The Sea Inside by Philip Hoare has been called many things. “Beautifully written.” “Simultaneously philosophical and engaging.” “Evocative.” But it took filmmaker John Waters to view it in another, more “Waters” way, and he called it as he saw it. “Whale porn.”

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Hoare related how he discovered his love of whales, and then tried to share the experience with Waters:

I tried to describe my encounters to my friend John Waters, the filmmaker, who accused me of being a whale-stalker. When I showed him some of my latest photos, he quipped, “That’s just whale porn.” Eventually John took me aside and, with an air of patience tempered with pity, said, “Look, you’re spending more time with whales than you are with human beings. You’ve got to do something about it.” I think he recommended that I write about the animals as a kind of therapy.

We should all be grateful that Waters intervened and steered Hoare in a literary direction. He’s been compared to W.G. Sebald and even Thoreau, and his writing opens up a world that’s often hidden from view. The Wall Street Journal, in their review, wrote, “Mr. Hoare’s The Sea Inside embraces the dangers and mysteries of the natural world and in them finds transcendental awe…Mr. Hoare’s gimlet eye sees the magical in the mundane.” With his mastery of language, and his belief that human, literary, and and natural history are indelibly entwined, we are all richer for getting to accompany Hoare on his travels through sea and land, and catch his “good illness.” Everybody, listen to Mr. Waters.