The text is hardly worth a glance, but the pictures are pretty in this small coffee table book offering from Key Porter. The new whaling, like the new safari, is seeking to reclaim the bloodthirsty past and convert it into a kinder, gentler, altogether more pleasant tourist activity. And, as recent quickly forgotten studies have indicated, whale-watching is now one of the top activities for tourists in Washington State, British Columbia, and Alaska. This, of course, means market base. Which means book. Whale: Giant of the Ocean, text by Eric S. Grace, with photographs taken from the Ursus and Images Unlimited archives, is a well put together, handsome volume of the sort Key Porter produces several of a year. Definitely not for reading, but perfectly suitable for flipping.