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'My Penguin Year' works best as companion to nature series

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'My Penguin Year' works best as companion to nature series
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'My Penguin Year' works best as companion to nature series

2019-11-12 05:10 Last Updated At:05:20

"My Penguin Year: Life Among the Emperors," William Morrow, by Lindsay McCrae

It's an odd thing to write in a book review, but "My Penguin Year" is better seen than read. The good news is you can do just that.

McCrae spent 337 days in Antarctica as the director of photography for the BBC series "Dynasties," narrated by Father Nature himself, Sir David Attenborough. He won a BAFTA Award for his work, documenting the life cycle of emperor penguins. So you can actually watch the best of the footage he captured — from mating to chicks hatching — and then pick up this book for a behind-the-scenes look at how it was done.

Whether you'll get really into McCrae's personal journey or it will just make you want to watch "Dynasties" again is up to you.

The best parts of the book are the passages when McCrae is out on the ice and just can't believe his luck. "... as they approached almost to touching distance on their bellies, I felt maybe I should move out of their way," writes McCrae of his first wild encounter with the bird that has fascinated him all his life. "On my knees, I was the same height as they were at well over a metre tall, and I could see straight into their eyes. The pair were so close I could see every fibre on every feather."

It really does make you want to see it in 4K, right?

The segments of the book that don't quite work are the more personal parts. McCrae left his pregnant wife in England for the excursion, an agonizing decision given it meant he would miss the birth of his first child. He often attempts to juxtapose his thoughts about what he's witnessing among the penguins against what he's missing at home, and it feels unnecessary. "Life was continuing without me and it felt strange to be so detached," he writes around the eight-month mark of his trip, lamenting when his wife wants to talk about possibly leaving the Lake District in England where McCrae grew up and his son, Walter, was born. "I was too far from home, too detached from real life, to be making those kinds of huge decisions." All true, but also all his choice. Writing about it bogs down the book a bit. The overall effect is perhaps a good one though — you just want McCrae to fire up his Skidoo and get back out on the ice to tell you what's happening at the penguin colony.

Final takeaway: Watch episode 5 of "Dynasties," then pick up the book if you're hooked. They are meant to be enjoyed in tandem. As you watch that first shot of the penguins materializing out of the blowing snow, marching across the fresh sea ice toward the most inhospitable breeding grounds on Earth, you may long for details about just how much sacrifice — personal and physical — it took for McCrae to get that shot and tell the story.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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