The Old Man Mad About Drawing and Hokusai Prints and Drawings

Hokusai was a renowned Japanese artist who died in 1849. Even if you know nothing about Japanese prints you will be familiar with one of his famous images at it inspired the Quiksilver Clothing logo. We have two beautiful books now in the OLRC. The one I love most is Hokusai Prints and Drawings (Author Matthi Forrer). It is a hefty book with 200 pages covering Hokusai's major series (such as 36 Views of Mount Fuji)   nicely reproduced in colour, though not at the original size. There is a thirty page introduction about his life and art.

I can think of many reasons to sift through these beautiful and exotic images. He is an acclaimed master, but also heavily influenced the French Impressionists. Many well known artists have been collectors of his prints. He is sometimes said to be the forerunner of modern Manga, but his works were never assembled into comic styled stories. Individual pictures, however, often tell intriguing stories. When you reflect that much of what is in the book are hand carved woodblocks you can also start to appreciate the artisanship involved in the fine lines, detail and delicate textures.

For younger readers, we have The Old Man Mad About Drawing (by Francois Place). This lovely book tells the story of Hokusai's life from the point of view of a young boy who sells rice cakes and meets the famous artist. It is illustrated both with original Hokusai prints and also with charming illustrations of Japanese street life done in the style of Hokusai. Both book are suitable for any age, with the Biography suiting Year Four and up.

For those who want to follow up connections, I reviewed 36 Views of Mount Fuji by Cathy Davidson a few weeks ago. This is the story of her time spent in Japan and is named and structured as a tribute to Hokusai.

Andrew Lack
Head of the Odell Learning Resources Centre

Diaries 1969-1979 (The Python Years)

by Michael Palin

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This is not great literature, and was never intended to be. The fascinating Michael Palin has kept a diary "more or less continuously since 1969". His diaries are written largely in full sentences, so reading is not hard, but compared to (say) autobiographical or literary writing, this material has an excess of detail and a lack of flow that make reading cover to cover something of a chore.


Tear up the idea of treating this as a major work, and instead use it as a primary source reference book for the conception, growth and troubled life of the Monty Python Show and the Python Movies. I enjoyed reading about the problems of shooting the films, and about the difficulties (and final triumph) of launching the show in America.


Rather more poignant are the records of the struggles within the team to find direction, finish scripts, and manage the various ups and downs of different members, many of whom battled personal demons of one sort or another.


The book has plenty of photos covering an incredible era. Would I re-read it cover to cover? Probably not, but I'll be tempted to look up some of the better stories again.


Published by Phoenix in 2007.

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Arabian Sands

by Wilfred Thesiger

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I caught the ABC show “Talking Heads” the other night. It was riveting! An Australian woman, Paula Constant, talked about her incredible walk from London, through the Arabian deserts and (almost) through to Cairo. I was interested that her inspiration was Wilfred Thesiger. I have been reading Thesiger’s books for years, and we now have one of them in the OLRC.


Thesiger was an Oxford graduate who served with the SAS in the Western Desert in WW2. After the war he returned to Arabia and travelled extensively by foot and by camel. He dressed as an Arab and travelled without any European companions, relying solely on the tribal guides with whom he became fast friends. Arabian Sands details his wanderings through the “empty quarter” and meetings with many different Arabs, some still living the ancient tribal culture.


He is a careful observer, and his total immersion in the culture and the trust he built means there are wonderful stories about his own adventures as well as tales told around the campfires. As you can imagine, life in the “howling desert” is fraught with danger, not the least being the histories of revenge killings between certain tribes and families.


The book has some photographs, so at least the main characters he travels with are introduced. This is a gripping book for the older (Senior School and above) reader interested in travel, adventure, Arabian culture, or history.

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

By Paul Hoffman

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This is a haunting and fascinating biography of Paul Erdös. He was a Hungarian mathematician with an incredible output... he was interested in almost nothing else but mathematics. He moved from place to place staying with other mathematicians, payed little attention to money matters, and constantly proposed new problems to solve. He was so prolific in publishing papers (often with other authors) that there is an in-joke in Mathematics based on what is called your “Erdös number”. If you published with Erdös you get a status number of “1”. If you published with someone who published with Erdös you get a status number of “2” and so on.


Despite a number of idiosyncrasies, he was generous with his ideas and money, and was very kind to children (who he called “epsilons”). While this book does try to introduce the reader to some of his interests, including number theory and probability, it is not overloaded with technical matters. Erdös died in 1996 having published more papers than any other mathematician. This book is a warm hearted introduction to someone who lived life with a single focus, and “outsider” who contributed richly to his field and who invited collaboration with his peers.


It is a suitable read for Senior School and above. Indeed there is nothing in it to concern younger readers, except for his use (or abuse) of tablets later in his life to stay awake as much as possible (to do more Mathematics).

Captain of Innocence

Captain of Innocence: France & the Dreyfus Affair

Author : Norman H Finkelstein

Around April 25th each year we remember the injustices and losses of war as well as honouring the dedication of men and women of valour and truth. We abhor the abuse of power as much as we despise traitors to a cause.

Captain of Innocence is the true story of the French government and their military leaders who conspired to convict an innocent man in one of French history’s most tellingly muddled moments. It divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s and had ramifications that carried through to World War II.

Review by Gayle Davidson