Canada Books

This book is what engineering is really all about- actually designing machinery and mechanical components to fill a need. I know that is why I got into the game several decades ago. Yet with all the management, scheduling, quoting, and clerical chores that are piled on engineers and engineering departments these days, it is easy to lose sight of why you chose this career in the first place. In fact, that's the only thanks you ever get in a largely thankless profession- the joy of occationally getting to design something that works.

This book is a rarity, it works as both an introductory text, as a design text, and as a life long reference book. I've taken mine along on many an assignment long after I had discarded lesser texts and references to save weight.

You get the fundamentals of how to produce a useful, working, engineering drawing that the shop can actually use to produce a part (you would be amazed at how many CAD "experts" cannot do this.) Then you get detailed information on industrial processes and materials (casting, forging, cold heading, powder metallurgy, extruding, roll forming, electroforming, welding, plastic injection, etc.) Plus you get a good intro to standard design components like all types of fasteners, bearing, seals, couplings, clutches, speed reducers, etc.) Then, you also get excellent basics in speciality areas like sheet metal development, piping, jig and fixture design, fluid power, and structural drafting. The sections on beam equations, trusses, and strength of materials are quite clearly written and requires only a working knowlege of trig. You top it off with an appendix that covers everything from conversions and fastener specs to fit types and geometric tolerancing.

Whenever I get disgusted and start to question why I am still doing this after so many others have gotten out, I pick up this text and flip through it. It reminds me that America used to be known as the land of engineers- real engineers.

Having started in engineering as a draftsman more than 40 years ago, I have seen them all ... and in my humble opinion this is the best book of its kind ever written. The authors, Jensen and Helsel, have bypassed most of the fluff, like how to sharpen your pencil, and go directly to the heart of the matter. They have packed more pertinent, practical how-to information and technical reference data in this book than you will find in any other five books of its size. The book is easy to read, and to find specifically what you need. Proper and in-depth coverage is given to the very latest in drafting standards in both metric and inch systems; including limits and fits, geometric tolerancing, shop practices, and also standard parts.

I started using this first edition of this book more than 20 years ago, and have found no other to compare with it, or any of the succeeding editions. If I had only one book to take with me to the job, it would be this one.

I am not a musician and I can't read music, so I'll leave it to the more musically qualified to weigh in on the merits of the hymns and service settings in this new Lutheran worship resource. But I am a Lutheran, I love a sung service, and I enjoy singing hymns. Just published, Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) is intended to replace the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW or "green book") published in 1978 at the time when three historic American Lutheran bodies merged to form a single denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

What I like about ELW is its abundance of choices, its completeness, and its transparency. Unlike the LBW, this new resource is designed to facilitate private worship as effectively and fully as public worship. The section for the Propers for Sundays and Principal Festivals is clearly laid out, including for those Sundays beginning in Pentecost when churches have the option of pursuing "complementary" or "semicontinuous" Old Testament readings. Unlike the old, two-year Daily Lectionary, the Daily Lectionary in the ELW follows a three-year cycle, making it easier for the worshipers to integrate their priviate devotions with what the larger church is doing on Sundays. Another important improvement is the inclusion of all 150 Psalms, not just the "safe" or "polite" ones. The first piece of service music, which immediately follows the last Psalm, is numbered #151. This is significant. It is a way of reasserting the Psalter's rightful place as the Church's primary collection of worship music. The numbering helps us remember that the Psalms are not to be treated as texts only. They pre-date the church, in fact, and from the beginning have served as important works of musical and spiritual expression. Also important for private devotions is the inclusion of Martin Luther's "Small Catechism" and a short article explaining the Scriptural basis of worship (where the precise verses are identified for all the key phrases that form the skeleton of our worship service). More than its predecesor, ELW gives the motivated Lutheran worshiper the chance to prepare ahead of time for Sunday worship, and to reflect upon it afterwards--a reminder that being a Christian is not just what we do, think, and say on Sunday.

What I mean when I praise ELW's "transparency," is that those who prepared this volume have taken pains to explain why we worship the way we do, to present the logic and rationale behind the options available to us. Each section of the book is introduced with a brief explanation of what is being presented and what makes that element of worship noteworthy. Similarly, there is ample use of rubrics to call attention to worship options within the various settings and services. I even appreciate that they have added a footnote to the Nicene Creed to remind worshipers that the phrase "and the Son" is a later addition to the Creed.

Even more so than the LBW, this hymnal is sensitive to the diversity of the church and demonstates a sense of joy about embracing all lands and cultures. Likewise, it recognizes that the laity is capable and ready to take greater leadership in the "work" of the church; the text distinguishes between "presiding ministers" (i.e., ordained clergy) and "leaders" and "assisting ministers" in a way that is empowering rather than restrictive.

I look foward to exploring the new settings for Communion as part of my Sunday worship. And I encourage all Lutherans to obtain a personal copy of ELW and begin using it as part of your personal devotiions.

This is a long time coming and long overdue. The last time the LBW (now the ELW) got a rewrite was in the 1970s.

If you're looking for the Gift Edition the ISBN number is 978-0-8066-5671-7. Currently, it's only available from Augsburg Fortress.

I read Welborn's book and was truly touched by her sincere desire to help people who are struggling financially to better save when buying prescription drugs. Of course, even the wealthy could significantly save after reading this book! "Everything You Need to Know..." needs to be on an Oprah show so people everywhere can benefit from it!
Dr. Rosemary Calard-Szulgit

I was really skeptical when I first saw the title of this book- How can a book help me with buying prescription drugs? However, since I don't have insurance, and I have to pay for all my medications myself, I thought I would give it a chance. Well, the consumer advice in the book was great! I saved $20 alone on my very next prescription drug purchase. I would recommend this book to anyone who takes more than 1 or 2 prescription drugs.

The Shepardsons (including their children, Tina, 8, and Randy, 5) had the determination and skills not only to undertake paddling from New Hampshire to Alaska, but to succeed at it! As fellow paddlers, my husband and I enjoyed reading their story on a much shorter canoe camping trip with our son, Matt (3 1/2), in the Adirondacks. Their trip, however, covered a huge variety of terrains from relative civilization to northern mountains and tundra. This book almost makes you want to be there despite the inevitable hardships and mishaps. It is spellbinding.

A leisurely canoe trip across the North American continent. Hey honey let's take the kids. It'll be fun! X-treme eco challenge for the whole family. No one can be voted out of the boat. What are you goig to do.....leave one of the kids beside the river 1000 miles from home? They are all survivors! Did I mention they almost beat the French canoe racing team that was attempting to set a new record. Awesome! I guess they were in a hurry to get back before school started in the fall. What did you do on your summer vacation? I've canoed Texas, Washington, and Minnesota but nothing like this. I borrowed this book; Now I want my own copy. Do you want to feel alive, get closer to your wife and family, or maybe just bond a little with Mother Nature. Let the Shepardsons show you how as they take you along on The Family Canoe Trip. If you like Camping, Canoeing or Adventure I recomend you read this book.

Excellent source of Genealogical information on family surnames, helps you find the places that you should be looking for your family. Doesn't do your genealogy for you but most certainly helps.
Names are listed in Alphabetical order, no index necessary
There are 4 editions available but the 1988 corrected Edition is the best

Seary's in-depth study of nearly three thousand family names of Newfoundland, arose from his work on the study of place names of the island. As his study progressed, Seary became fascinated with tracking families as they migrated along the coast or changed their names to avoid detection by Britain and France. His pursuit of the rise of Newfoundland surnames illustrates that relationships, place of origin, occupation, and even nicknames played very important roles.

The core of his research comes from the Official List of Electors 1955 chosen because it was the most comprehensive list of names and the communites to which they were linked before the massive resettlement programs of the 1960's. The sources of his information are vast as he quotes from scholarly works from England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France and the Channel Islands as well as the many censuses taken in Newfoundland since 1675 in his attempt to get at the origin of the name.

Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland attempts to trace each name to a geographical origin in England, France, Ireland, etc. as well as trace its linguistic origin. This will provide the reader of this text with answers to such questions as; What does the name mean? Where is the name found in Newfoundland? When was the first recorded incidence of it in a particular region? Of course, this information is invaluable to any researcher of family history.

The real value to the student of genealogy, is that as Seary lists the early instances of each name in various places in Newfoundland, he provides us with all kinds of tidbits of information about the person - how they were killed, where they worked, their father, etc. And as expected from a scholar such as Seary, all of this information is referenced back to an original source document!

This book is both wonderful and horrifying at the same time. In today's global environment, the lessons of Korea are all the more important for the Government of Canada, the high command and the Canadian public to remember! This book should be read and sit on the corner of every desk in the Department of Defense. Canadian should also reflect on the government's callous disregard of the navy's helicopter pilots (i.e. the Sea King Episode), or the fact Canadian troops were sent to Afghanistan in green uniforms. These episodes clearly demonstrate that politics wins over the lives of the service personnel every time, just as it had in Korea. Here we sit over 60 distant from the Korea war and the Canadian Government and military are still making many of the same mistakes.

Far Eastern Tour: The Canadian Infantry In Korea 1950-1953 by Brent Byron Watson (History Teacher, Okanagan University College) is a tautly written and serious-minded examination and history of Canada's involvement in the Korean War, including the hardships Canadian infantry suffered which included inappropriate training, stark living and combat conditions, and the deadly blood toll of the war itself. Far Eastern Tour is very highly recommended as being an extensively researched, carefully written, and scholarly accurate look into what living amid such combat was like, the pressures it demanded, and the extraordinary people who faced the horrors of war and did not back down from what had to be done.

This book has short stories from a real reserve near two real towns (Wetaskiwin and Hobbema) in Alberta, Canada. The characters are amazingly funny and real. The way he writes this book it is like he spent 20 years of his life living with Native Americans! I wouldn't want to get stuck on this reserve! A must-read book! It is sooo goood that money is no object! A book to laugh at and to lift your spirits! I haven't read one of his books (and I've read all but two) that I haven't loved

Kinsella mixes prose and dialect to plunge the reader into the world of the misunderstood Canadian aboriginee. Full of fun and shenannigans but with a poignant message attached. Short, easy to read stories. I've read then all at least a dozen times

I am a birder but always wanted to ID the trees that the birds were perched in. I first took this book out in the field to the Arboretums in San Francisco and Berkeley. I found the book easy to use for IDing native trees. I also took this book with me on a trip to the eastern Sierras and trees that I have previously looked at as "pines" turned into Lodgepole, Mountain Hemlock, Whitebark, Red and White Fir, and Jerrery Pine. It really opened up a new world for me. And naming nature is one way to understanding the wonderfully diverse tree species of the west.

this tree book is amazing.while i hate science, this book got me into it. its still not my favorite subject, but now i like it.

Bob Patterson's review really captured a lot of what I was feeling. As a former member of the Canadian Army, I was not only able to see in my mind's eye the scenes that Christie was describing, I was able to see many of the soldiers, often because I actually knew those men. The Canadian Army is not big - and the Army of West is probably about 6,000 Regulars and a few more thousand reservists - that's not a very big town, and all of the larger than life characters tend to become known by all - men like Mars Janek, whom I had the honor to serve with back in 1995, and who features prominently in this book as the extraordinary soldier that he is. Canadians really have no idea how lucky they are that these bright young men and women are willing to put their lives on the line in the service of their country.

Christie did a great job with this book, and clearly she wrote it her own way. My only real citicism is that I would have liked her to spend a bit more time of the achievements and field operations, and a little bit less on deaths, but I understand why she went the route that she did.

The Canadian army is very small - many organizations claim to be like a "family" but the Canadian Army is a family. In the larger world there may be 6 degrees of separation but in the Canadian Army there may be only two. So every loss is a wound for all. Every loss is indeed the death of a brother.

This remarkable book is a revelation of what it may mean to be part of a true Band of Brothers - a world where the most senior general lends a master corporal his own wedding ring so that he can ask his girl to marry him - a world where the entire platoon comes to the home of a fallen comrade and spends a week in the community celebrating his life - a world where a 40 plus year old widow enlists so that she can continue to be part of the family - a world where Colonels weep for their men.

The book also causes the reader to think more deeply about war and soldiers. It is politically correct to feel that all war and everything about it is bad. But we discover, that for all its terror and for all the losses, for a soldier war is what he lives for. It is when he also discovers whether he is any good at his life's work. We discover how good our soldiers are. Surprisingly, for we always think the less of ourselves, in Afghanistan, we are considered the heavy weights who punch well above our weight.

We discover that while war exhausts a person more than any other activity, it also makes him more alive.

We discover that PTSD is much more prevalent in peacekeeping than in the kind of situation that we find in Afghanistan. In peacekeeping the kit was awful and the impotence high - imagine simply witnessing atrocity? But in Afghanistan our soldiers can take the initiative and they are very well equipped and have rules of engagement that make sense.

We discover a new kind of woman soldier - who are at home in this strange world, as is of course the "Blatch", and who are no longer seen as odd.

We discover how the families of our soldiers have been integrated into the mission and we see how the worst of all news is given and how the families are supported when what they all fear the most occurs.

This is not the civil service in green that was the sadness of our forces for many years. Implicit throughout the book is that someone really knows that he is doing. I think that someone might be called Rick Hillier.

We discover how great our local field leadership is too which also says something more about General Hillier -

Brig- Genl Dave Fraser to LTC Ian Hope, in radio orders given at 11.30pm on July 17 "You need to recapture Nawa and Garmser by 1600 hours.

Hope to Fraser: "Roger that. Recapture Nawa and Garmser by 1600 hours."

Fraser: "Any questions?"

Hope: "Just one: Where are Nawa and Garmser?'

Not only do we routinely pull off tough missions, but the Cols take all the risks that their men do - they lead by example. They also tend to do the really terrible things like personally extract the burnt and mutilated bodies of their dead so that the buddies in the platoon would not have to remember their friend like that. There is all this bull in the public service about "Servant Leadership". Here you see it for real at all levels from the LTC down to the Master Corporal.

We discover the central frustration of the mission. That we have to go back again and again and take the same ground because the ANP, the police, cannot hold it - we learn how complex this work is.

But most of all, we learn how fortunate we are to have those wonderful people wearing our uniform.

It is a mystery to me how, in a nation, so cut off from the reality of war, that we can once again have the kind of army that we had in 1917. A pathfinder Army.

A small army that can think and adapt. A small army that is lead by men and women of an integrity and skill that put our business and public organizations to shame. A small army largely made up from men and women from small town Canada who have that can do attitude that used to be the hallmark of Canadians.

Who else could tell this story but "Blatch"? A woman who acknowledges that she knows of only two soldiers who swear more than she. A woman who shares the hardships, the joys, the terrors, the losses and the fun. A woman who loves her boys and who is loved back.

She writes with such a love and a passion - I could not put the book down except when my eyes were so full of tears that I could no longer see.

It is exciting, it's very funny, it's very sad. But in the end it is heroic. Not in a little boy's view of heroic but in the most mythic sense of people who live for each other in undertaking a very hard task.

At the end of the book, "Blatch" goes back to see everyone to see how they are.

"Eight months later, Hope (LTC Ian Hope) answers my email form an airport lounge somewhere. I wrote back to tell him of one of the stories - bawdy and funny, loving and sad, always brutally honest - I'd heard from the troops.

You must miss them so xxxxxx much," I said. " I can hardly bear to write about them sometimes. I find them so beautiful."

"You understand what I miss," he wrote back. "I am Odysseus."

This is a wonderful book about wonderful people written by a wonderful person - who has by the way a wonderful dog but that is another story.

All Canadians should read this book. It will give you a whole new respect for this country and its amazing history. This book is a page turner from the first chapter onward. Most Canadians are likely not aware of many of the seminal events detailed in this important work. History, often a dull subject, is brought to life in this volume. Highly recommended!

Mr. Orchard eloquently achieves in this book what is most needed in this nation - he writes about who we are, what we have been through, how close we have come on how many countless occasions to assimilation, and most importantly how with vision and luck, we have survived despite all odds and expectations to the contrary. The Fight for Canada borrows from the rich traditions, perspectives and styles of American works such as JFK's Profiles in Courage and the most honoured of history textbooks available in the English language (indeed, I would argue that Orchard writing about Canada could put Howard Zinn writing about America to shame any day of the week and twice on Sundays). Orchard's range is spectatular for at times it is impossible for the coldest heart not to feel a swell of pride and yet, he can turn around with such ease as to give the most patriotic idealistic heart pains for the tragedies that are Canadian history. We have hanged heroes - make no mistake about it. We have hanged honourable men, we have long forgotten genuine patriots and we have vilified statesmen (among whose ranks I count David Orchard himself) who, in any other country, would be imortalized and bestowed with honours and posthumous recognition such that every elementary school child would know their names and heroic acts. With the Fight for Canada being written in such an easy conversational and yet insightful tone and the subject-matter of which being of the gravest of importance to Canada's future, in my mind it is inexcusable to have not read this book and still count oneself amongst the citizenry of Canada.