The Whale; The Ladybird Books Story – TV review

"Thar she blows!" said one of the crew as a whale came to the surface. The cetacean wasn't the only thing blowing heavily in The Whale (BBC1), a 90-minute dramatisation of the sinking of the Essex, a Nantucket whaler, by a sperm whale in the Pacific. This was the shipwreck that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick; the BBC film was so laboured it only served to unintentionally remind me of Melville's genius.

The Whale felt like a big-screen movie epic trapped inside a relatively small-budget TV programme; the vastness of the ocean, skies and the whales got hopelessly lost. Worse still, it was structurally flawed, unable to make up its mind whether it was a rite-of-passage story for the young Tom Nickerson on his first voyage, a clash of wills between the two leads – the smouldering First Mate Chase and the even more smouldering Captain Pollard – talking in pirate-speak or Orca Strikes Back. Inevitably, it fell between every stool.

The biggest disappointment was the whale itself. The whale scenes had been filmed by the BBC's natural history unit and they looked like it. They were beautiful, precise and graceful and wouldn't have been out of place in a David Attenborough film. What there wasn't was any sense of the menace or personality that had captured Melville's imagination and was supposed to be present here.

When the whale attacked the boat, it came from out of the blue rather than from the sailors' perceptions they were locked in a struggle that the whale had made personal. As soon as the Essex sunk, the whale was out of sight and out of shot. It was forgotten by everyone, until the mariners had been floating round in the Pacific for several weeks – not, initially at least, appearing to experience much discomfort in their small open lifeboat – when the voiceover declared: "We all wondered if the whale was following us still." The whale must have been as surprised as I was to hear that.

The voiceover was another issue. Presumably because the BBC felt it was in need of a big-name star on which to sell the film, Martin Sheen had been roped in for a curiously lifeless cameo as the ageing Tom Nickerson, recounting his adventures to an unseen audience. All that was required was for Sheen to deliver deathless cliches, such as: "There is a darkness, blacker than the blackest night," straight to camera, a feat he managed without embarrassment. Though as Sheen's face is now so rigid, displays of emotion are probably beyond him. Long before the last remaining survivors were picked up, I was cursing the whale for not having done the job properly an hour previously.

I don't think that the Ladybird book series ever got round to doing a retelling of Moby Dick for children, but the company has managed to encompass almost everything else since it produced its first title during the first world war. For many of us who were born in the 1950s and 1960s, Ladybird books were our first literary love. For some of us, it's a relationship that continues to this day. I still can't resist dipping into my 1963 edition of Captain Scott, An Adventure from History; it gave me an enthusiasm for polar literature that has never dimmed. It was the book that taught me that it was far, far better to fail heroically and die than plan sensibly and come first: a lesson I have carried with me throughout my life.

The Ladybird Books Story: How Britain Got the Reading Bug (BBC4), the latest in the consistently good Timeshift series, was a heartwarming exercise in nostalgia. It outlined how the company began with a format to make the most of paper during the war shortages and became every parent's go-to source for learning-to-read schemes, history, science and nature books. But these were mostly jumping-off points for contributors such as Andrew Motion, Chris Packham and our own Lucy Mangan to talk of the meaning and impact these books had to and on their childhoods.

The Ladybird legacy has been far more powerful than any government initiative. A whole generation of children grew up learning Ladybird History. I'm surprised Michael Gove hasn't placed the books about Florence Nightingingale, Charles II and Sir Francis Drake on the national curriculum. And it's not just the younger generation who have reaped the benefits. During the Falklands war the army handed out copies of the Ladybird How to Read a Map for all those soldiers who were a bit lost near Goose Green. Ladybird: serving the nation faithfully for nearly 100 years. Long may it last.

Two books on Apple and Google: ‘Dogfight’ by Fred Vogelstein; ‘Jony Ive’ by Leander Kahney

Steve Jobs was many things: visionary, showman, iconoclast, hippie, bully, mentor. It turns out he was also naive.

As Fred Vogelstein writes in “Dogfight,” his illuminating, fast-paced book on the war between Apple and Google, Apple engineers knew that Google was working on its Android phone software as they were preparing to release the iPhone in 2007. But Jobs wasn’t worried. The companies were partners, even friends. Jobs was a mentor to Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was an Apple board member, even appearing onstage when Jobs introduced the iPhone. These Google guys would never betray Jobs.

But of course they did.

When Google entered the mobile-phone business, Brin and Page knew the stakes. “It’s hard to imagine a more revolutionary object than the object the two companies started fighting over: the smartphone,” Vogelstein aptly writes. “The smartphone has fundamentally changed the way humans get and process information, and that is changing the world in ways that are almost too large to imagine.”

Apple vs. Google is a battle over who controls the new way information — music, video, words, pictures, data — flows through the world. That Google opened up a lemonade stand right next to his own enraged Jobs, and it led Apple to sue Google’s hardware partners around the world. It eventually led to a tablet battle that in the coming years will almost certainly lead to a TV battle. “What this means is that Apple versus Google isn’t just a run-of-the-mill spat between two rich companies,” Vogelstein writes. “It is the defining business battle of a generation.”

If that strikes you as hyperbole or silly words about silly gadgets, the next time you have dinner with your spouse at Applebee’s, look up from your smartphone and gaze around: You’re probably not the only one scrolling on a gadget when you should be, you know, talking. These tiny screens dominate our lives. We are entertained by them. Our children learn with them in school. Our doctors diagnose us with them. They disrupt industries — television, newspapers, book publishing, Ma Bell, who knows what’s next. Surveys have shown that not a small percentage of Americans would give up sex for a week before giving up their smartphones.


Vogelstein, a contributing editor at Wired, does a solid job introducing us to the foot soldiers in the information war — the non-household names who engineer the devices and software we can’t quite put down. Jobs, it turns out, was more a master editor of other people’s ideas than strictly an idea generator of his own, terrain that Walter Isaacson previously explored in his brilliant Jobs biography. “Jobs had to be talked into building a phone,” Vogelstein writes.

Perhaps the most riveting part of Vogelstein’s book is his re-creation of the days leading up to Jobs’s now-famous introduction of the iPhone. What nobody knew as Jobs showed off the device onstage is that it barely worked. It was riddled with bugs, and there was only a faint chance it could actually complete a call. Engineers gave Jobs a “golden path” of tasks to perform for his show, ordering the functions so the phone wouldn’t crash. They sat in the audience taking shots of scotch after each successful part of the demo. By the end, the flask was empty. The iPhone worked. It was, as so many said afterward, magical.

Vogelstein seems to think Google’s smartphone and tablet strategy — mostly giving away its software to manufacturers to put on their devices — is beating Apple’s grand ambition, which is to control everything, from the glass to the icons. He notes that Google’s Android software dominates the smartphone market and is running neck-and-neck in tablets. Those stats are true but miss more important data points.

For one, Apple has never cared much about market share. It does care about profits, and it controls more than half of smartphone profits around the world, though Samsung is closing in. Also, it’s not just how many devices Apple sells but what people do with them. And that’s a lot. Industry statistics show that Apple’s operating system crushes Android in the United States when it comes to mobile Web traffic — the very bits of information Google and Apple are brawling over. The more data that flow through Apple’s devices, the more entrenched those devices become in people’s lives. And Apple sells more. It’s the circle of digital life. Already Apple is slowly easing users away from Google’s services. Apple’s Siri voice search is now powered by Microsoft’s Bing. Google Maps no longer comes preinstalled on the iPhone.

The Year's Best Books for the Road Ahead

There's no better season than the present to read books that bring good tidings, tested strategies and sound advice about how to live healthier, happier lives in the year—and years—ahead.

Here are our recommendations for the year's best books for staying fit in all ways as you explore the territory ahead.
Belly Laughs

"Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys?" is comedian Billy Crystal's autobiographical musings on aging, decade by decade, and the perfect antidote for milestone birthday blues. Having trouble deciphering text and Facebook abbreviations? Invent your own, says Mr. Crystal, starting with GNIB ("Good news, it's benign"), OMG ("Oh, my gout") and WAI ("Where am I?"). He also has a full chapter on "The Five Stages of Forgetting Things"—a blank page.

Be prepared for some coarse language and a few rants too many, as well as a bit too much about his starring roles in films you may have missed. But his theme is on target: Whatever decade of life you're in, humor is the best strategy for keeping your own foibles—and everyone else's—in perspective.
Rewind to the Future

In her informative and witty "Counterclockwise: My Year of Hypnosis, Hormones, Dark Chocolate and Other Adventures in the World of Anti-Aging," journalist Lauren Kessler sets out to find "the best research and the worst scams" in the wannabe-fountain-of-youth marketplace.

"What exactly is possible in this brave new (scientific, medical and commercial) world full of tantalizing research, bold promises, controversial therapies, and perhaps a bit too much wishful thinking?" she asks.

She consults with plastic surgeons, seeks out medical tests that may (or may not) shed light on how her cells are aging, grows grumpy on a calorie-restriction diet, and investigates unsubstantiated claims of a multiplicity of vitamins and herbal supplements. Her conclusion: Ultimately, nothing beats "the sweaty truth" of exercise.
Mental Gymnastics

And don't forget to exercise your mind. "Our brain's health may be the most powerful indicator of how long you will live," begins "Your Best Brain Ever: A Complete Guide and Workout" by Michael S. Sweeney with Cynthia R. Green. It's a research-filled yet highly approachable guide to the scientific why and the practical how of keeping your brain in top shape whatever your age. The authors' "fitness regimen" for maintaining neural health through the decades can be summarized as: use your brain matter, or risk losing it. But they also provide numerous practical strategies for maintaining neuroplasticity—essentially, the ability to keep on learning and adapting—primarily through continued social, intellectual and physical engagement, but also via numerous "brain booster" exercises.
A Glass Half-Full

In "Up: How Positive Outlook Can Transform Our Health and Aging," physician and medical researcher Hilary Tindle promotes pragmatic optimism as a powerful tool for improving not just how we look at life, but how we age through life. No, it isn't about being a Pollyanna. It's about being "up"—cultivating an outlook and attitude that favors possibilities. Beyond the behavioral impact, Dr. Tindle presents an impressive array of research to show how the psychology of outlook affects the biochemistry of aging, down to the cellular level. Finally, she provides a practical seven-step plan for helping the glass look less empty, more full. Think of it not as a workout, she suggests, but as working "up."
A Guide For Guys…

At more than 500 pages, "A Man's Guide to Healthy Aging: Stay Smart, Strong and Active" by Edward H. Thompson Jr. and Lenard W. Kaye covers almost everything you need to know, but might be afraid to ask, about keeping fit mentally, physically, socially, intellectually and sexually through the decades. The authors directly address the necessity of a book focused solely on men: Because many men equate seeking medical help with weakness, they are about 50% less likely to seek out health services than women are.

Chapters give equal weight to mind and body, openly discuss issues of intimacy and aging, explore the stresses and costs of masculine stereotypes and present the latest medical and psychological advice for navigating a healthy course.
And One For Gals

"French Women Don't Get Facelifts: The Secret of Aging With Style and Attitude" is best-selling author Mireille Guiliano's latest follow-up to the series that began with "French Women Don't Get Fat." Her style is chic, her attitude is self-declared French. (And there are recipes!) Some of the advice is familiar (stay active, seek out new interests, most of all be comfortable in your own skin, even if it has a few more wrinkles). But her grooming and fashion tips on keeping hair, makeup and wardrobe both agelessly attractive and age-appropriate are choice and delivered with charm.

"This book isn't about actual face-lifts—or about not having them," she writes. "It is about face-lifts in the sense of aging with attitude and the decisions one makes through the decades." Sit down with the book as if with a girlfriend over coffee or a glass of (French) wine

Bavaria Ends Funding for Scholarly Edition of 'Mein Kampf'

BERLIN—Bavaria's regional government has ended its funding for a controversial book release: a new, annotated edition of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf," which hasn't been published in Germany since World War II.

The wealthy South German state of Bavaria—which holds the copyright until 2015—had been planning to co-publish an edition of the book with historians' notes highlighting the flaws and falsehoods in Hitler's arguments, in an effort to get ahead of other potential editions that might be released once the copyright expires. But this week, Bavaria decided the plan to publish Hitler's manifesto in Germany for the first time since 1945 sends a wrong signal, at a time when German authorities are trying to outlaw the extreme-right National Democratic Party of Germany, or NPD.

"I can't file a request to ban the NPD [at the constitutional court] in Karlsruhe and then associate our Bavarian coat of arms with the distribution of 'Mein Kampf'. That's bad," Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer told the state legislature this week.

Bavaria and Germany's other federal states are seeking to ban the NPD at the country's highest court, arguing that the party is "spiritually related" to the Nazis and seeks to subvert democracy. The NPD denies the charge.

The effort to ban the NPD comes amid renewed national soul-searching about the persistence of extreme-right ideology on the fringes of German politics. The debate was spurred in part by a criminal investigation and parliamentary inquiry into a spree of murders of immigrants by neo-Nazis, which police failed to solve for many years.

In an about-turn, the Bavarian science and education ministry this week announced it will pull out of the project to publish a critical edition of Hitler's book, citing respect for the feelings of victims of the Holocaust and their families.

Historians argue that a critical, annotated edition of Mein Kampf is essential to countering many of the falsehoods and anti-Semitic claims that Hitler makes in the book. Supporters of the planned publication say Bavarian officials' fears that the book's re-release will incite hatred today are overdone.

The planned two-volume edition, heavy with academic annotations, is unlikely to appeal to far-right activists today, said Richard Evans, historian at Cambridge University.

Mein Kampf is also "very boring" to read and unsuited for rabble-rousing in today's Germany, Prof. Evans said.

In 2012, Bavaria pledged €500,000 ($687,546) in public funding for the Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History, of IfZ, to produce a critical, annotated version of "Mein Kampf" for publication in 2015 when the copyright expires.

Bavarian finance minister Markus Söder said at the time that the publication would aim to "demystify" Hilter's manifesto.

The IfZ institute says it will carry on with the project even though the public funding will end, citing the importance of Hitler's treatise as an historical source. It won't have to repay state money handed out so far.

IfZ director Andreas Wirsching said on Thursday that he hopes the critical edition will "break down the propaganda in the work and make it transparent."

"Mein Kampf," which translates as "My Struggle," dates from the mid-1920s and outlined Hitler's radical anti-Semitic views, as well as his vision for German dominance in Europe.

Most Nazi symbols and paraphernalia are outlawed in Germany, including the swastikas and the stiff-arm Nazi salute. Mein Kampf isn't banned. Germans can already read it on the Internet, and buy it overseas or in secondhand bookshops.

But Bavaria has blocked the publication and sale of new copies in Germany since 1945.

Copyright expires 70 years after an author's death, meaning Bavarian authorities will lose their copyright from the end of 2015, seven decades after Hitler committed suicide in the final days of the war.

But the Bavarian government says it will continue to ban publication and distribution of the book in Germany through the courts, arguing that it incites ethnic hatred. It says it will make an exception for scholarly versions aimed at academics, such as the IfZ's edition.

Books 2013: The best books of the year

Lauren Beukes on Sci-Fi

'The Space Race' by Alex Latimer

This is a kick-ass thriller with deceptively lovely insights into human

relationships, about a secret apartheid space programme in the Karoo that gets

hijacked.

'The New Girl' by SL Grey

The third in the series of a disturbing downside world that overlaps our own in

the liminal spaces of a glossy mall, in a government hospital and now, an

exclusive private school. Smart horror with a scathing moral conscience.

    Beukes's latest novel is the critically acclaimed novel 'The Shining Girls'

Imraan Coovadia on literary fiction

'The Whispering Muse' by the Iceland writer Sjon, or Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson

I really like this book. It's not a book I can explain. It's light, strange,

related to Homer's Odyssey and Viking ballads, and sees the centrality of fish

in the universe.

'A Map of Tulsa' by Benjamin Lytal

It's a perfect New York literary exercise set in Oklahoma, or wherever Tulsa

happens to be, which is also a coming-of-age story.

'All That Is' by James Salter

I know I shouldn't like it but I do. It's the best novel written by someone in

his 80s. In fact, it's better than any novel written by anyone in his or her

60s. And there's also something eminently distasteful in its views of women and

life and its wandering story.

    Coovadia's essay collection 'Transformations: Essays' recently won the

South African Literary Award for Creative Non-fiction

Pieter-Dirk Uys on political non-fiction

'My Big Fat Gupta Wedding' by Zapiro

The one genius whose cartoons can make you laugh through your tears.

'The Zuma Years' by Richard Calland

Especially good for his wonderful suggested cabinet of South African women.

'A Passion for Freedom' by Mampela Ramphele

To help flesh out the extraordinary profile of a potential national leader.

    Uys's publication 'Panorama' is in its second printing

Andrew Donaldson on thrillers

'Someone to Watch Over Me' by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir

The guff about Sigurdardóttir being Iceland's answer to Stieg Larsson is

regrettable, for the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir novels are way better than The Dragon

Tattoo trilogy and this, the fifth, is the best yet. A young man with Down's

syndrome has been convicted of torching his care home, killing five people, and

lawyer Gudmundsdóttir has been hired to prove his innocence. This is superior

entertainment.

'City of Blood' by MD Villiers

The crime debut of the year, this enthralling, provocative evocation of

Johannesburg's underworld has been longlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New

Blood) Dagger. It's a fast-moving rush, and most of the action unfolds in the

eyes of an orphaned youth whose life is thrown into considerable turmoil when

he goes to the aid of an elderly gogo who is being attacked by a Nigerian

knifeman. Villiers has given her coming-of-age thriller a cast of memorably

menacing characters, but it's the city itself that is most threatening.

    Donaldson is The Times book columnist.

Jade Zwane on erotica

'Slow Sex' by Nicole Daedone

Slow Sex encompasses OM, orgasmic meditation which is a 15-minute partnered

sexual practice that refers to orgasm not in the circular. Orgasm may or may

not include climax and includes everything from sweaty palms to faster

heartbeat, etc.

'My Romantic Love Wars' by Betty Dodson

I consider myself a sex-positive feminist and feel that Dodson is one of its

leaders. Her memoirs discuss how she came to be sexually liberated and non-

monogamous after being repressed about sex.

'A Girl Walks into a Bar' by Helena S Paige

I haven't yet read this highly anticipated book, but I'll be packing it in my

beach bag.

    Zwane is the author of 'aDICKted'

Sihle Khumalo on travelogues

'The Last Train to Zona Verde' by Paul Theroux

Theroux, already on his 70s, is as cranky and grumpy as ever. He calls Africa,

the very continent he is trying to explore northwards along the Western shore,

"violated Eden of our origins". His rich, true-to-life and picturesque

descriptions of places, transport and circumstances are legendary and make one

want to rough it up in Angola yesterday.

'City of Myths River of Dreams' by James Marr

Comical writing for a not-for-sissies adventure: overlanding through West

Africa. Run-ins with police, a ruptured fuel tank and other endless problems

are quickly forgotten when the team (author, wife and two friends) stop for yet

another alcoholic refreshment.

    In 'Almost Sleeping my Way to Timbuktu', Khumalo shares his own ambitious

journey through five West African countries

Laurence Brick on coffee-table books

'Interiors Now' edited by Margit J Mayer

Interiors Now is a visual indulgence of the world's best contemporary homes,

from world-renowned potter, home furnishings guru and decorator Jonathan

Adlers's retro-inspired colourful Shelter Island home to architect and designer

Shamir Shap's modernist interiors in a former printing press in Chelsea.

'Vanity Fair - 100 Years' edited by Graydon Carter

The best gift I received for my birthday, this book reflects the last 100

years, telling the story of a century of modern culture and society. Art and

interiors are part of this and beautifully documented, my favourites being on

architect and furniture designer Florence Knoll, whose furniture became design

icons of the 20th century, as well as highlights from the phenomenal 2006 Art

Issue.

'Living with the Light' by Axel Vervoordt

Beautifully photographed, Belgian designer Vervoordt's urban and rural

interiors showcase his passion for art and design.

    Brick is creative director of 100% Design South Africa

Andrew Donaldson on Music Books

'Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop' by Bob Stanley

For 50 years or so, pop music - full of the potency that held Noel Coward in

such thrall - was consumed like this: you heard a song on the radio, you read

about it, you bought the record, you lent it to friends, they lent you theirs,

and thus you not only built a cultural network, but you provided a soundtrack

to your life. What's changed? The recording industry may now be in dire

straits, thanks to the digital revolution, but our love affair with pop culture

is as strong as ever. Erudite, funny, informative, here is the history of it

all in 750 enthralling pages. Absolutely indispensable.

'The Beatles - All These Years: Tune in, Volume One' by Mark Lewisohn

The first volume in an ambitious trilogy. It's 900 pages long and only covers

the group's career up to 1962, when they were on the brink of stardom. The

obvious question, given everything that's been written about The Beatles, would

be: what more can possibly be said? Well, lots, it would seem. Much of what's

here is the pre-Fab stuff - that is, it's unfamiliar and comes across as

revelatory and fresh. Lewisohn spent 10 years on this project, and it shows.

Best for kids

'Lion vs Rabbit' by Alex Latimer

This is a delightful book. It's about a lion who is a big bully (such a

relevant theme for children, no matter what age they are) and the poor animals

that just can't get him to stop. Then one day, rabbit comes along and manages

to beat this bully (using brain not brawn). The illustrations are beautiful and

the story is so smart. I loved the clever clues in the pictures so that

perceptive readers can figure out for themselves how rabbit is outsmarting

lion. I think the author's playfulness with words and his superbly subtle

humour are such a boon for adults, who may be reading this book over and over

again to their children.

'If You Want to See a Whale' by Julie Fogliano and Erin E Stead

I so enjoyed this book for its simplicity, serenity and subtle messages about

mindfulness and patience in life. The words are so lyrical and rhythmic that

reading aloud is almost like a meditation, I thought. How beautiful for bedtime

reading. The illustrations are muted and soft, yet have surprising details,

like the little bird that appears on every page.

And the message, well, little ones may not get it totally, but surely will feel

the patience and calmness that the book inspires. These are virtues that we all

tend to forget in our rushed, busy world, so I think it's refreshingly

worthwhile to find a book to remind us.

Tips, links and suggestions: What are you reading this week?

I finished Roberto Bolano’s The Savage Detectives yesterday. What a book! I wasn’t sure what to make of it to begin with but was enjoying the writing enough to just let myself go with the flow and see where it took me, and I’m incredibly glad I did.

For those who haven’t read it, it’s long (577 pages), dense (an enormous cast of characters, most of whom narrate at some point), and unusual. The story of a group of somewhat brattish teenage poets in Mexico City in the 1970s who go off in their own directions, and are tracked through to the late nineties, with the story told by a large cast of those whose paths they crossed, in a story which embraces real events, real literary figures, and fictional creations. The central characters of Belano and Lima (who never narrate but are at the heart of the story) are apparently closely based on Bolano himself and his best friend.

That might sound like the worst sort of navel-gazing, but it's actually vivid, dark, heady, and occasionally very funny, but always fascinating and well composed

LeoToadstool:

Finished The Quiet American and was mightily impressed. It was my first Greene: he really knows how to create a narrative of psychological depth and marry it to a plot worthy of a thriller. I couldn't help but be reminded of The Great Gatsby while reading it, as both novels explore the dangers of idealism and the nasty compromises one makes to achieve the unobtainable. It is quite quotable too.

Now straight into Lessing's The Fifth Child. One word assessment so far: hypnotic.