Canada Books

What Chris & Scott did was allow me to stroll down memory land; bring me back to my younger days growing up in Timmins. The heritage, the way of life. Wow! I am saddened that my 3 boys and daughter will miss out on 'The Rink'. For my peer group, our families were all poor. We had no money. 'The Rink' broke down ALL barriers. The Mahovolich's, Vail's, Lever's.Babando's, Hannigans's, Prentice's, Guidlon's and so on had no money,. But, when we went into 'The Rink', we were equal. And we excelled. 'The Rink' was a way of life. It transcened what living was all about; it really was a contradiction n terms as 'sociologists' would say. For so many of us it was like dying and going to heaven; nothing was wrong with it. When we walked in, the smell was distinct and sooooo familiar. We knew we were at 'home'! We felt secure. When we entered the dressing roomss, we were in a differnet 'mode', one that was somewhat esoteric. The smell of stinky, musty equipment within the sacred, hallowed dressing room was sooo sweet. As our collegues (players) filled in, the commaraderie (as Ken Dryden so poignantly points out in his book THE GAME) is instantly redefined from individuals to a 'team'. 'The Rink' allowed us to be many things to many people. We were more than players and 'they were more than 'fans'. In some respect it ('The Rink') was really the focal point of our lives during the winter months from October until April. If you are not from Northern Canada, this book means nothing to you. If you read it, there is no significance to you, no association. And if you're from the U.S. of A. reading this book is not esoterically confusing, you just won't understand it. IT was not written for people outside of Canada. The unfortunate thing ab out hte book is that it misses 'Rinks' that 'should've ' bee in it. however, we all know that the authors couldn't get all rinks in Canada. So be it. To Chris and Scott, excellent job.

Having just returned from a Canadian youth hocky tournament, it was easy to relate to the stories in the book. I felt I was experiencing the history of the rinks told about. Excellent book.

I believe this is one of the most enjoyable books i have ever read about hockey. I especially liked it because myself, and my hockey team, are spoken of in a section of the book. Cuthbert and Russell really capture the history and spirit of some of hockey's most famous institutions. A must-read for hockey players or fans.

I thank the authors, Thomas and Phyllis for this great book. Because of this book, I was able to connect my gr grandmother Lillian May (Ryerse) Fergus and the rest of her family. I now know a little more of who I am and where my ancestors came from. The book is very interesting to read and has made me very proud of my Ryerse ancestors. I would recommend this book to anyone they definitely will not be sorry. Thanks again Thomas and Phyllis.
George C. Olson, Jr.

Tom Ryerson & Phyllis Ryerse have made family history come alive with this extraordinary book. Not only has their painstaking research paid off in an easy-to-follow genealogy of the Ryerse-Ryerson Family, but this book should serve as a model for all those interested in chronicling their family history. The Ryerse-Ryerson Family tells the 400-year history of one of the oldest Dutch families to settle in the US using rich text, pictures and maps. Far from the dry recitation of facts found in many books of this ilk, Tom and Phyllis have written a book that is both informative and entertaining. For all genealogy or history buffs, this book is a "must read"!

I was never so happy to receive a book, as this one. Through all the hard work and many years of reseach, the authors, Thomas Ryerse and Phyllis Ryerson, connected the rest of my family line with my 4th great grandmother, Eleanor Augusta Ryerse. The book is wonderful, with pictures of family, maps, headstones, stories of the past telling how life was for them. Makes your family come alive again. I rate this book five stars! Debbie Dixon Cade

This book goes about the most heart-wrenching task - noting all the animals we've killed in North America - with none of the usual environmentalist emotional sentimentality. Mowat logically and systematically provides evidence of our wholesale slaughter by categories (land, sea, air) and species. Incredibly well written , and some of the first person historical accounts he unearths are shocking and shameful. This book will move you, anger you, and stay with you. Look in the sky - how many birds do you see? This book provides the sad answer why.

Mowat wanted to write about life, humanity, and extinction. Obviously the topic was too broad, so he narrowed himself down to just discussing the North Atlantic and parts of the New World. I finished this book and was stunned by how much life there USED to be around here. Polar bears in Massachusetts? 12-foot sturgeon in the Chesapeake? Birds flocking in the millions that I had never even heard of? WE NEED MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS AND WE ALL NEED TO READ THEM!

Since reading Mowat's "Sea of Slaughter," I can't get a certain picture out of my mind. It is of a sandy ocean beach, miles and miles long, where tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of morse came to socialize every summer until the middle of last century. The morse, or northern walrus, was a stupendous animal, of impressive bearing: a veritable lion of the sea. Yet it comes no more to those grounds, once the largest colony of its kind, out on Canada's Magdalene Islands, off the coast of Québec.

To think that the morse were just a side-show to it all. To think that eventually, with the same energy and relentless mechanical force, we would come to decimate the northern fishery more or less entirely, leaving thousands of perplexed fisher folk stranded in coastal villages, wondering perhaps, just where that many fish could possibly have gone.

On land, as in the water, nature's bounty was scarcely less prolific, the European's first reaction, scarcely less horrendous. Could this be the true, unknown history of North America, lying behind and directly concerning those early pilots and navigators like Cabot and Columbus. 400 or more years of unbelievably short-sighted culling of mighty herds, whether they were whales or bison or a hundred other species of birds and mammals known to have been hunted to the last. This is Mowat's sad chronicle. This is his portrait of what one day perhaps, will generally be known and accepted as history. And the only thing that may stop us is that we find we really don't want to ever learn this sort of truth.

Besides being a remarkable contribution to the literature of ecology and environment, this is also one of Mowat's finest personal efforts. You can see by the very nature of the material that it took a being of remarkable strength just to tackle a project like this, let alone bring it to a conclusion. It's probably true that one can prepare all one's life for just one event. In Mowat's case, without negating any other part of his remarkable œuvre, this may just be it.

Paul Nicklen was raised in the Arctic. (on Baffin Island) perhaps that is why he understands the special beauty of the Arctic and was able to capture it in his photographs.

This is an incredible collection of photos. I relived my Arctic experiences and could feel the cold and hear the quiet. This collection will remain with me forever and my compliments go out to the artist. I look forward to another publication in the near future.

Received the book as a gift and thought that the photos were absolutely incredible. These pictures have made me want me to visit the Arctic. I think this is one of the finest publications for coffee table books and have put it on my Christmas list.

This book, which is out of print and quite hard to find a copy of (took me 3 years to find a copy myself, and then finally it was through Amazon), is one of Idries Shah's more esoteric ones. In fact the book is not listed on any of the books-lists under his name (for instance you can look at http://www.octagonpress.com/~sufi/shahbook.htm).

This book is truly a treasure-house when it comes to esoteric material and I can only recommend it.

But I will also draw attention to some of I. Shahs other books, for instance "Learning How to Learn" and "The Sufis".

This classic brings together translations of a half-dozen of the most important medieval 'grimoires' - magicians' how-to books of the late middle ages and renaissance. It includes the Greater Key of Solomon, the Goetia of the Lemegeton, the Ars Almadel, the Grimoirium Verum, Albertus Magnus' Natural Magic, and excerpts from Agrippa. All are presented in a raw form, free of the various 'corrections' (and expurgations) of Mathers and Waite.
The book *is* hard to find, and has been removed from all of Shah's booklists that i can find. It has become, in its own right, a hidden and forbidden volume. If you can find it, it remains unmatched for all-in-one-place lore.

this amazing book may teach you the true ancient way of conjuring spirits. once you have been there, you may stop to bother the invisible world and just realise that the power of thoughts contain every possible thing in the universe and you can do without the book. try it, and become master of your world

"Skylar" is a beautifully told, smart, entertaining gem of a book. Both child and adult readers will fall in love with this bumbling but brave group of pond geese as they struggle to remember just what makes them geese. Best of all, this book shares with the very best works of children's literature an opportunity for young readers to learn and stretch and grow just as the characters do. From new vocabulary words to lessons about nature to poetic imagery, readers are encouraged to "think" their way through the book rather than just follow the story. As the characters expand their own language and understanding of the world, so does the reader. That is an awfully big gift from such a little book, and well worth the read!

This is a wonderful and endearing story for the young and young at heart. You will feel like you are aloft with this little flock and also share in their adventure and wonder in all the unexpected challenges on the ground. Loaded with facts, philosophy and humor, this book keeps you charmed to the triumphant end. Don't be surprised if you hear yourself whisper "Skylar?" next time you spot those random geese flying up there in some haphazard formation, honking at one another. If you recognize the leader of the flock, it just might not be your imagination.
The lovely black and white drawings provide the perfect mood for the text and goings on in the story. I loved this story. I could not put this book down 'til I was done.

Carol Ray

"The trouble with geese is that they're always stopping to think things over."

These lines are spoken by a one-eyed heron who has enlisted a flock of five out of shape suburban pond geese to help him migrate south. It is from a wonderful new book Skylar by Mary Cuffe-Perez.

Skylar is the story of five Canada geese who live an idyllic life as resident geese at a suburban man-made pond. However, these geese are envious of the wild geese that they observe migrating each fall. They have an opportunity to emulate their wild cousins when a lost one-eyed heron arrives at their pond and seeks aid in migrating.

Each of the five suburban geese has a unique and interesting personality. Readers will both laugh and cry as they follow the journey of the five Canada geese and the one-eyed heron. Although the book is marketed for young readers, everyone who reads it will love it. With the possible exception of Mel Ellis' extraordinary Wild Goose, Brother Goose this is the best novel ever written about geese.

Earl S. Rosenbloom, Ph.D.

This is an awesome book for beginners and professionals alike. I was amazed at the amount of information for each snake. definitely not small enough for a field guide, if thats what you're wanting.

This book provides a tremendous amount of information for many species and subspecies. It includes habitat, range, diet, etc. I recommend this book as a reference book for anyone interested in snakes. In my opinion, this book is not intended to be read from cover to cover, since it reads more like a scientific/academic reference field guide for general snake species info.

The team effort of Carl H. Ernst (Professor of Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia) and Evelyn M. Ernst (Director of Information for the National Science Resource Center in Washington DC), Snakes Of The United States And Canada Is a brilliantly conceived and presented, 668-page encyclopedia filled from cover to cover with concise descriptions and up-to-date information concerning habitats, predators, behavior, reproduction, and more for all of the American and Canadian snake species from coast to coast. Full color photographs of each fascinating species are combined with meticulous, detailed, definitive descriptive entries, making Snakes Of The United States And Canada a professional quality addition to professional and academic Herpetology Resource reference collections.

Donald Graves has broken new ground in that he has written what constitutes - without qualification - what is simply the finest regimental history ever to see print. He blends perfectly the veterans' experience with detailed historical research, and supplements the package with hundreds of original photographs and superb line drawings of everything from the tanks themselves to local campaign maps. His appendices are the best I have ever seen.

Regardless of the depth of your prior knowledge of the Canadians in WW2, finishing Graves' SOUTH ALBERTAS will leave you awestruck, wishing for more. I would hope that this author and others might consider similar, follow-up works on other Canadian regiments, while the veterans are still with us; there can be no greater tribute to their sacrifices. Other, popular histories are but a pale imitation.

Donald Graves has written the book by which any small unit history will have to be measured in the future. At the risk of repeating what Michael wrote - the book contains a most impressive narrative of all the actions of this regiment, including the full treatment of the celebrated stand at St. Lambert-sur-Dive that won the only VC for the Canadian Armoured Corps, and it is lavishly illustrated, with photos and maps explaining the situation on the ground. Donald Graves' writing is concise, to the point, and very successful in bringing the story to life. The most touching point is the identification of every single casualty of the regiment by name, their pre-war occupation, age and family status, setting a memorial for the men. As someone with a strong interest in the Commonwealth military of WW II I found this a superbly done book, teaching me more about the way things were then for the men fighting than any other book I have read. It is well worth any cent it costs, and I hope it will stay available for a time to come.

Outstanding, from the colour photo section, to the detailed appendices, and the "war manual" for those not versed in WW II military terminology or practices (this is helpful for civilian and current soldier alike, as much has changed in 50 years). The book is solidly researched from primary sources, lavishly illustrated with photographs from personal collections, and contains many personal stories and reminiscences. The darker chapters (two men being drummed out of the regiment for raping a Dutch woman) are given equal time with the regiment's loftier achievements. A great book about Canadian tankers in WW II and a must read for anyone interested in the Canadian Armoured Corps in WW II, or Canadian soldiers at war in general. Thank you Mister Graves for setting the standard.

Quirky but real. As a Canadian from the same era I can totally relate to what he describes. A really great book to give to Americans to explain who we Canadian really are.

So, what constitutes 'Canadian culture' and elements of Canada? From notorious plastics which take twice as long to decompose to a special kind of screw and driver used only in Canada, there's a host of oddities uniquely Canadian which Douglas Coupland here sets out to capture visually and in text description. A hilarious, pointed set of true observations, all backed with color photos.

This SECOND collection of imagery and musings from Famous Canadian Writer Douglas Coupland didn't always strike a chord with me. I'm from a different part of the country, with different history and experiences, of course.

Yet enough was oddly, eerily familiar to convince me that there are few young writers better qualified to comment on the State of Our Nation than Coupland. Not as enjoyable as his fiction, but something fun to tide us fans over while we wait!

I enjoyed this quirky collection, particularly Coupland's Canadian House installation art, more than the first. The images seemed fresher and his intelligent commentary was just as enjoyable. Keep 'em coming!

This book is great for those having difficulty identifing sparrows or LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs). It has many actual pictures of each sparrows which shows the different variations from region to region, young to old, and from season to season.

In the winter time here in Virginia we get a number of differnt types of sparrows that migrate in. I love watching them but was having difficulty determining which types were which from just the regular field guides so I asked around and one of our local birders recommended this to me. Its terrific! The pictures of the birds are close-up - as if you were holding the bird or were sitting on the ground less than a foot away looking at the bird. This really helps when trying to distinguish the slight differences in colors or patterns. Each species has a chapter that strats out with measurements (size, weight etc) then there's a range map, and some text on habitat, then some text on behavior and voice/songs. There's writing about similar species, geographic variation, distribution (winter, breeding, migration periods), conservation status, and molt. There's also text descriptions for specific markings etc to hone in on, and discussion of hybrids if any. Then the chapter has pictures, of boys, girls, adults, juveniles, etc. Really a great book that has helped me a lot. I'd buy it again in a heart beat.

This edition has a lot of text in it, so it's not really geared towards field use. Yet, the pictures provided are really good. However, for an in-depth study of sparrows, it's an excellent source. Definitely recommended.