Hester Blum was interviewed on a recent episode of the Freakonomics Radio Show that features her research on Moby-Dick and whaling history.
The episode is the third in a three-part series, and part of her interview was done on the Charles W. Morgan, the world’s last remaining 19th century wooden whale ship.
Hester has long been a major scholar of Moby Dick and whaling history—last August her new edition of the novel was published in the Oxford World Classics series—and her recent work has connected the history of whaling and polar exploration to our current understanding of climate change, environmental impact, and the loss of polar ice. On a lighter note, if you give the episode a listen, you will learn some things you may not have known about your colleague—like how many times Hester has read Moby Dick and what that tattoo on her arm is!