Poet Beachy-Quick has one thing in common with Captain Ahab; they are both obsessed with Moby Dick. Beachy-Quick exorcizes his obsession by creating his own "dictionary" of Melville's masterpiece, inspired by Ishmael's incomplete dictionary of whales. From "accuracy" to "you/thou" he wanders through Moby Dick selecting topics that resound to his own quest, as readers of the book have done since it first was published. Part poetry, part philosophy, part mysticism and even part literary exegesis, this book defies easy description, but invites perusal. Beachy-Quick suggests that the reader select topics according to interest or whim, rather than reading it straight through. He also provides cross-references, often a form of poetry in themselves. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)