Canada Books

An informative summary of the wonderful Avro Arrow aircraft which was way ahead of its time but killed off by stupidity, politically motivated interference from the US and Canadian governments and deliberate misinformation from all sides. A fascinating but sad and familiar chapter in the history of western aviation. See also the BAC TSR-2 aircraft and the Decca Secondary Surveillance Radar system.

This was the original serious history of the Arrow, and remains one of the best sources for information on one of the greatest should-have-beens in aviation history. Minimal politics, maximum info.
When it was first released, it had no equal for the number of drawings (three view and schematic), let alone the number of photos it included. Introducing the swept wing follow-on to the CF-100, and supplying more information on the tentative projects that resulted in the selection of the Arrow, the book was and remains a landmark, not just for the Arrow, but for the extent of information in anything short of a pilots manual. The first three view of the Arrow with the modified air-intakes, and even a little on the Mach 3 Arrow, as well as a flight log for each flight of the Arrow. A treasure then, and a treasure now, data and graphics from this book are to be found on most websites that deal with the Arrow.

I am now a believer in Avro. Wish things had gone different for this part of human history.

Jim Pendleton

Good Book

Bought this for my husband's birthday and he loves it. Enjoyed the technical part and feels the story line is pretty close to the facts. Pictures are great.

One of the finest book dedicated to this controversial program! Being interested in technical details and aircraft perfomances,I found many factory drawings about structures, internal systems arrangements, armament layout and cutaway views. Important performance figures are available from tables and charts. But the most interesting feature is the the description of the development and testing phase that shows all the potential of this doomed plane. Finally some basic facts on an aircraft still surrounded by an halo of mistery about its birth and its death!

this story is about a princess who loves balloons and uses them to rid the kingdom of evil, with the help of some friends. it's a cute story with a simple but effective message. i love phoebe gliman, she writes amazing children's books that, though they are nothing complex, are truly epic. one of those stories you'll remember when you're older. this one isn't my favourite by her, i prefer something from nothing, or jillian jiggs, but this one is great as well... exactly what i would expect from her. i recommend this author.

My Gramma gave me this book when I was a child (over 20 years ago). I read it so much that the book is actually falling apart now. The story is magical, as are the illustrations. I intend on buying another copy of this book for myself and one for my students to enjoy. This book is truly a treasure for both children and adults.

The Balloon Tree by phoebe Gilman is a great book for kids. It expresses a great sence of imagination with a wonderful happily ever after ending. The Balloon Tree is a classic tale of good triumphing over evil.

A friend sent this book to me for my granddaughters and it has become their favorite book of all time. It reads like a classical fairy tale and the illustrations are true works of art in anyones eyes. Totally mesmerizing, it will be a book they will want to keep forever.

I am buying a second copy tonight so each grand will have her own!

"The Balloon Tree" is one of my favourite stories. The pictures are breath taking. Not only are the pictures great but so is the story! I'm an adult and I still love this story. Every child should have this in their collection. Also adults who have not lost the fun in reading these books should have it in their collections too!

Sex and the City meets Dr. Phil
It may not be quick, easy, or pretty, but with a little help from the girls and your friends, you will:
* Throw your own (very short) pity party
* Resist the seductive lure of the "moment of weakness"
* Survive your first post-breakup solo appearance
* And tackle all of the issues in between
Bittergirl takes you from initiation into the bittergirl club, including warning signs, the shock of rejection, the seductive lure of "the moment of weakness," and relationship apathy, through your first solo appearance, and on to the bittersweet moment when our bittergirl realizes, "Wow, I'm over him."
If you ever need a little help to move on, this IS your bible bittergirls everywhere!

Just when I thought I'd never laugh again the bittergirls came to the rescue! The bittergirls made me laugh out loud, asked some great questions and made me think long and hard about this break-up. Best advice for me? Relationship Mythology - don't make him better than he was. He's a guy. Not a superhero. Thanks bittergirls.

honestly. i went from thinking i was a happy, balanced seemingly normal gal, to feeling like an angry, lost and slightly psychopathic wreck. this read gave me a hearty laugh and some damn good pointers to getting it togther. um... perspective! plus the voices of a few other ladies who have clearly been there. even if you're not broken up, you probably will be eventually at some point (sorry... just the way the cookie crumbles) or you'll need to advice another fellow foe. so read the book anyway! it's a fun AND funny ride that will make any state feel better.

Best thing I've read about how to NOT enter into a breakup. Funny and biting and, according to the women I know who've read it, oh so true.

What a great read - the best laugh in a long time. No matter what stage of life you're at you can relate to the hillarious and very real antics and moments caught and brought to life by the Bittergirls. A nice reminder that getting dumped is something that eventually each of us can learn from and more importantly laugh about.

As a longtime resident of this beautiful & remote North Pacific archipelago known as Haida Gwaii, I enjoyed Neil Frazier's guidebook very much. It is extremely informative in matters of interest to travellers in this unforgiving marine wilderness, the hard facts of survival. As well, the author shares his thoughts on the ongoing rape of the ancient forests of spruce & cedar for which the Queen Charlotte Islands are famous. His maps are accurate & current, his directions are lucid & easy to follow, and his advice is worth heeding. Very few of Haida Gwaii's 5000 full time residents have been to half of the places that Mr. Frazier has visited. And the author's extensive knowledge of the human history of these islands is evident throughout the text, and is usually reflected through entertaining anecdotes about Islands residents, past & present. The indigenous Haida people especially are portrayed in a romantic light that stirs the imagination. All in all, the book does what a good travel guide should do- it inspires me to want to load up my boat, and head off on an extended boat camping journey of my own, and to once again marvel at the endless majestic beauty that is to be found in every corner of Haida Gwaii.

As a longtime resident of this beautiful & remote North Pacific archipelago known as Haida Gwaii, I enjoyed Neil Frazier's guidebook very much. It is extremely informative in matters of interest to travellers in this unforgiving marine wilderness, the hard facts of survival. As well, the author shares his thoughts on the ongoing rape of the ancient forests of spruce & cedar for which the Queen Charlotte Islands are famous. His maps are accurate & current, his directions are lucid & easy to follow, and his advice is worth heeding. Very few of Haida Gwaii's 5000 full time residents have been to half of the places that Mr. Frazier has visited. And the author's extensive knowledge of the human history of these islands is evident throughout the text, and is usually reflected through entertaining anecdotes about Islands residents, past & present. The indigenous Haida people especially are portrayed in a romantic light that stirs the imagination. All in all, the book does what a good travel guide should do- it inspires me to want to load up my boat, and head off on an extended boat camping journey of my own, and to once again marvel at the endless majestic beauty that is to be found in every corner of Haida Gwaii.

"Boat Camping Haida Gwaii" guides readers not only through the waterways surrounding the Queen Charlotte Islands, but also through the history of the region, and the policies that continue to degrade these coastal areas. The guide is filled with detailed maps as well as pointers about where to land and where recent clear-cuts preclude camping. Even if you don't own a boat or a tent, you will still find the author's discussion of the past and possible future of these islands to be a useful guide for thinking about the fragility of the few "wild places" that are left, and about the price of ignoring the long-term effects of deforestation and overfishing.

"Boat Camping Haida Gwaii" is being reprinted by Northwest Coast Books and will be available from them and from Amazon before the 2008 paddling season. I am very happy about this, as Northwest Coast Books is physically located in Haida Gwaii, and revenues from sales of the book will now go into the local economy. The publisher, Janet Gifford-Brown grew up in Sewell, on Masset Inlet, accessible only by boat. She and her husband, Michael Brown, are experienced boaters who use this book for their own voyages. -NF

Also if you are not a sailer or not going by a kayak, this is a beautiful and great book for all lovers of these islands. I spent recently one week there and this book would have been an
enormous help for planning the trips. Beside the technical information about kayaking, the book contains a lot of
very interesting information about the history, the people, nature etc. Every time I open and read in this book, far away again from this paradise, all my impressions and pictures are
reviving. Should I ever have the chance to go again to the Charlottes, I would put this book at first in my suitcase.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Good the religious doo daa stuff really spoke to me. I was stunned at how good this book was. I couldn't put it down. The fighting scences were well done and ddescribed perfectly. I could definetly tell the bond between the author and Joe was tense but loving.

Douglas Todd, the highly respected Vancouver Sun journalist, has examined the spirituality of Canadian writers and artists in his important book, Brave Souls.
Remarks by Reginald Bibby, Canada's leading religion pollster, in his 2002 book, Restless Gods: The Renaissance of Religion in Canada

This Book was soooooooooooooooo good. The religious doo daa really spoke to me. The fight scenes were buetiffully decribed with lots of detail. The bond betwen the author and Joe really stode out.

By Carolyn Purden, Toronto Star
Moral issues, ethical concerns and spiritual matters are themes in the work of many contemporary North American writers, singers, painters and sculptors. Religious imagery and symbolism abound.
Yet how much do these themes and literary devices reflect the artists' beliefs?
This is the question posed by Douglas Todd, author of The Soul-Searcher's Guide to the Galaxy.
In Brave Souls, he questions 28 artists about their work and the philosophy and beliefs central to their lives. The eclectic group includes film director Paul Verhoeven, sculptor Bill Reid, cartoonist Lynn Johnston, Inuk singer Susan Aglukark and writer Carol Shields.
Nearly all attended worship in their youth, and a few still attend occasionally. But all are troubled by religious orthodoxy and their spiritual search is taking place outside institutional religion.
Their responses provide a range of spiritual insights that Todd groups in four sections: the atheists; the doubters; the new ancients, whose faith is rooted in organized religion, and the emerging mystics.
Some common themes emerge. Johnston speaks for several artists when she says she cannot accept Christ's divinity. "I'm starting to see other people as divine, too -- such as saints and exceptional people," she says.
Many artists echo Shields' belief in the centrality of love.
"It's your basic molecule," she comments. "Why else would we make an effort to be sort of good in the world and with one another, if it weren't for this kind of mystical connection that holds us together?"
Robertson Davies, interviewed shortly before his death, talked of his lifetime interest in the Christian heresy of Gnosticism, which led him to a belief in God's feminine aspect. Singers Susan Aglukark and Bruce Cockburn reveal they have continuing conversations with God.
Timothy Findley has felt the presence of God in the vast Arctic barrens.
Writer Laurence Gough says he experienced the presence of God while keeping a deathbed vigil. Of his stepfather's death, Gough recalls "a real sense of rustling in the air -- a sense he had risen up out of himself, of something leaving him when he died. And not just life itself. but something far more powerful than that."
Todd has skilfully culled the essence of each artist's beliefs. It all makes fascinating, and, at times, thought-provoking reading.

I first encountered this book about a decade ago in a course called Faith Quests RS 100C. During the course of the term we had about a dozen books to read. From this volume each student had to select two of the people profiled and present a seminar using this book as the beginning point and doing further research. I personally loved the book, and read not only the profiles we needed to have prepared for seminars but the whole volume. I even gave away a few copies. The sad part is that the book is now out of print because Stoddart went under a few years ago.

Todd, a long time writer and columnist for the Vancouver Sun, created the book by doing a series of interviews and then crafting those pieces into this volume. He breaks the Participants into four categories: The Atheists, The Doubters, The New Ancients and Emerging Mystics. The people profiled in each group are:

The Atheists
o Mordeccai Richler
o W.P. Kinsella
o Bill Reid
o Jane Rule
o Robert Munsch

The Doubters
o John Irving
o Paul Verhoeven
o Laurence Gough
o Evelyn Lau
o Wade Davis
o Douglas Coupland

The New Ancients
o Lynn Johnston
o Susan Aglukark
o Ann Copeland
o Tony Hillerman
o Robertson Davies

Emerging Mystics
o Timothy Findley
o Peter C. Newman
o Robert Bly
o Robert Fulghum
o Sylvia Fraser
o Loreena McKennitt
o Farley Mowat
o Barry Lopez
o Nick Bantock
o Alex Coville
o Carol Shields

This book was great for a number of different reasons. They include the fact that many of these people are famous - or infamous in the way these profiles present them in a new and different light. Also some of them have since passed away and the interviews done for this book will have been among some of their last, and maybe most in-depth in regards to their religious and spiritual views. It is truly a pity it is out-of-print, which makes it all the more worth tracking down.

CAMP X IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS. IT IS WAY BETTER THAN ALL OF THE OTHER BOOKS I HAVE READ. IT IS AN AMAZING STORY ABOUT TWO KIDS AND WHAT THEY GO THROUGH. IT REALLY ISN'T THAT SAD BUT SOME PARTS ARE. SO I HOPE YOU CHOSE TO READ IT.I KNOW EVERYONE WHILE ENJOY IT

Once I started reading this book it was hard to stop. Two boys were pretending to play war on a road where one was Canadian and the other was a Nazi. They were trying to go home but get stopped by a Jeep. That is how they find the spy camp. They have no idea what is going on in the camp, so they try to find out more and get caught. They get taken to the leader. They think they're in a lot of trouble but end up helping the camp do a few "jobs." They end up finding out one of they're friends is a Nazi spy. They get kidnapped by him and interrogated. Then the other Nazi spies come in and hit them. They end up telling them everything. I can't tell you anymore because then that would ruin the book, and you would probably get mad at me. It is a great book if you like action mysteries. This book has great entertainment and excitement. The details in Camp X are very specific, so you can almost feel what is going on in the story. This book is full of great action. I'd give this book five stars.

Camp X is a great book! Two kids stumble upon a Canadian spy camp and are brought into the service. They are good at infiltrating an allied munitions plant as a test. Then they infiltrate their own camp! One of their friends turns out to be a Nazi spy. I am not going tell any more because that would spoil the book!

My 11-year old son read the entire book today (at school). He loved the story. It showed him how young boys could be useful to the Canadian Army during World War II.

Camo X was very interesting from the begining of the book. I never wanted to put the book down. When I was reading this book I really felt like I was one of the charachters, and was watching them. On a scale of 1-10 I would rate this book a 10 for it's over all entertainment, detail and excitement. I think this is a very good book.

I really enjoyed this book, especially since I am a former Wilmington resident. Wanda Canada is an excellent writer and she brings Carroll Davenport to life as a very endearing personality. I enjoyed the references to various Wilmington locations and to areas where I still have family members living, such as Porter's Neck. I am looking forward to the third installment in the series.

I enjoyed my first experience with a Wanda Canada novel, Cape Fear Murders. Having lived in Wimington, it took me through familiar streets to some of my favorite memories of that gorgeous city. I look forward to reading more Canada!

I LOVED every moment of this book...the author's writing style is one of my favorite by far! She included so many unexpected twists and turns into the plot that it was absolutely a book that I could not put down! I am very glad that I discovered this local author within my county library! I highly recommend this book to anyone and definitely suggest if you like this book to check out "Island Murders" as well which was the book written before this one! :)

CARROLL DAVENPORT IS A GREAT CHARACTER. THIS BOOK TAKES OFF AND NEVER STOPS, I LOOK FORWARD TO HER NEXT BOOK. IT IS A GREAT READ AND VERY FAST.

I really enjoyed the adventures of Caroll Davenport and the turns and twists of "who done it". Nicely written and great book to read on vacation or a wintery day. I picked up Wanda Canada's first book in the series, Island Murders, in a book store while on vacation in South Carolina and it made me want to read more about the characters adventures. I am waiting for the third in the series.

I bought this book when I first found out I was pregant and it prepared me for what I should expect in the first stages of the pregnancy and up until my son was 3 years. It also showed me what and how the baby developed at each stage in it's production. It was great I would have been lost without this book.

This is the best book that I used as a resource when I was pregnant and for baby care. I never read the "What to expect ..." books. This book seemed to have the information I needed without going into too much detail. The pictures were fantastic. Most useful, though, is that it tells what symptoms mean "call the doctor". It also got us to get our kids to sleep through the night. Highly recommen!

this should be the one. It is a great book to follow through the stages of pregnancy and then into child care up to the toddler years. The pictures of the childhood rashes and sections indicating when to call the doctor are fabulous.

I am a first time mom, my husband and I were very nervous as we had never been around new born babies before and had no idea what we would need to buy, how to hold a baby ,what we needed to learn even!! This book is a complete book for all novices, it has many illustrious pictures and clear style of writing which is easy to understand. It covers more or else all topics personally I could think of. I have refered to it time and again all throughout my pregnancy and am sure it will be a great help once my baby is here.

This is one book that I would strongly recommend (and do buy for all my friends). It has a picture of every childhood disease that you can imagine from diaper rash to chicken pox to the mumps. It's all in here and the book covers pregnancy to about age 5. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and when dealing with your own kids' sickness, this book is very helpful

Like other reviewers have stated, while the beginning premise of this book sounds like a dry read, it is anything but. It's very informative, entertaining and gives the reader the idea that alot of our ideas about the Middle Ages, could prove to be quite wrong. Alot of books seem to point to the idea that everyone in this time period was unsanitary, filthy, ignorant and ruled by superstition. Alot of books on history, tend to focus on dates, laws, wars, and major events. This books is much different. It takes historical records about more obscure things, such as recipes, washing, clothing, medicine and entertainment and what emerges is a fascinating read about ordinary people and how they must have lived. Be prepared to learn new ideas about the people of the Middle Ages and close the book with a new understanding about this captivating time period. Excellent read for anyone with an interest in history.

I agree completely with the praise other reviewers have heaped upon this book. I have a large number of books on the Middle Ages and this is one of the best, if not the best. There is detailed information on a large number of topics, which are easily located, and well written. This book is a winner.

This author has accomplished quite a feat by taking what could be extraordinarily dry material and masterfully crafting a very interesting book. Rarely do you find a scholarly work of this caliber that you can read simply for pleasure. Mr. Newman debunks all of the supposed truisms about the Middle Ages to put the era in its proper perspective in history. This is a marvelous, considered, detailed accounting of what life was really like in those times, and it was not nearly so dreary as you have been told. This thought-provoking book is a must-read. You won't want to put it down.

Newman's book is divided into seven sections -- Eating and Cooking, Building and Housing, Clothing and Dressing, Cleaning, Relaxing and Playing, Fighting, and Healing. Each chapter is further broken down into convenient and well-organized sub-sections that combine to paint a thoroughly detailed portrait of life at all levels of society throughout Europe. Newman points out how each of his seven areas differed from country to country and in different centuries. The writing style is simple, yet vivid and entirely engaging, bringing the middle ages to life in an easy-to-understand yet detailed way. For example, in the chapter on building and housing Newman discusses what materials were used (and where and why), how they were worked, and what tools were used for each; types of buildings and construction techniques; use of lighting, furniture, decorative elements, etc. The section on food includes what food and drinks people consumed, how food was grown, gathered, stored and served, and differences in class and geographical areas. Almost two pages are devoted to grains alone. Newman explains each element clearly, using photos to illustrate many of the concepts. He dispels common myths about the period and writes convincingly that life was much more advanced and varied than is commonly believed. This is not an academic book (no footnotes or specific source material, although there is a rich bibliography for each chapter generally), but rather a book for the casual researcher, writer or lay person who really wants to understand the middle ages. It is extremely well-written (if poorly proofed), and the only real criticism I can make of the book is the quality of the binding, which makes it hard to read the left-hand pages in the early chapters.

I have been heavily researching the middle ages for a book I am writing and have read numerous books on the subject. This one is by far the most informative and enjoyable.

Newman really gets down to the "nuts and bolts" of medieval life. For most topics, he is extensively detailed. (For a few topics, he touches them so lightly I don't know why he even mentioned them.) His sections on food, clothing and construction techniques are the best I have seen so far in any book on the subject. Overall, if you want to know the "how and what" of medieval life this is a great reference book. I only gave it four stars because while Newman had great information, he was skimpy on how he knows it other than a few pieces of artwork and some very rough sketches. More artwork examples, better diagrams, and some actual photographs would have helped.

Just a comment related to previous reviews: a) this is not a novel but a true story, and b) it is not really about Canada, since New Foundland was not part of Canada at the time. But it is an incredible story about a family blown apart by WWI. The documentary video is also great, but hard to find.

I don't have a lot of time to write reviews, and I don't often write them, but I enjoyed this book so thoroughly that I'm sad to be finished reading it. It's one of the best memoirs I've ever read, though it's not really a memoir. One of the best family history books I've ever read, and yet it isn't that either. It is hands-down my favorite book about Newfoundland that I've read, though there are many more I want to read. Macfarlane is a masterful writer, and his work is filled with insight, thoughtfulness about the past, dead ancestors, and what they mean to those of us still living, even if we'd never met them. Though I'm wary of reviews that say things like this, he really does, quite improbably, tell a compelling story of Newfoundland itself through the story of his ancestors. The book somehow never descends into the maudlin or sentimental; it's quite a clear-eyed view of the meaning of World War I for Newfoundland and for the Goodyear family. The ending was striking--I'll probably never forget the image he painted on the last page. Loved it from start to finish.

I am ashamed to say that although I have lived in Canada for 37 years, I knew nothing about Newfoundland's history and consequently nothing about Newfoundland's participation in the First World War. A university lecturer recommended this book to me, and I heartily recommend it to anyone with an interest in the First World War (and in Newfoundland, more broadly). It is a beautifully written, poignant book which compares favourably with Robert Graves' Goodbye to All That and in some ways is better than Graves; it has none of Graves' cynicism.

This book inspired me to visit Beaumont Hamel on the Somme, where so many men from Newfoundland lost their lives on 1 July 1916. In the rest of Canada, 1 July is considered a day for celebration, because the country came into being on that date in 1867. Now I understand why Newfoundlanders cannot and will not celebrate 1 July as a holiday. For them, it is a day of mourning.

Ironically, for us on the west coast of Canada, Beaumont Hamel is easier to reach than Newfoundland. Having visited the former, I hope one day to visit the latter.

This is a great novel about how a war can affect a family, the family business and the province for many years after the war. Before WWI Newfoundland was a the oldest and thriving member of the British Empire (they joined Canada in 1949). When they were called to war they sent their best sons, and they sent all of them. In one battle on July 1st, the Royal Nlfd Regiment was almost completely wiped out. This has effected the economy and liveihood of the island for years. The RNR monuments of a bellowing caribou on the battlefields of France are a testiment of their valour. While the rest of Canada celebrates Canada Day on July 1st, to the Newfoundlanders it is a day of mourning and rememberance the RNR and the sacrafices they made. This book is a great testimony to the brave Newfoundlanders and their families during that time.

This is an amazing book: history, biography, auto-biograhy, philosphy all combined into a powerful tale of family character (and characters)that stays with you. In essence, a simple reflection on long past lives from a little corner of the world, Newfoundland, all wound up in the Great War, it becomes a haunting tour-de-force of the power of great events on everyday people.

The chapter "Fire" is in itself a small masterpiece and one I find reading again and again even now two years after the first read.

I picked this book up by sheer accident in a small bookstore in Banff and have been thankful for my good fortune of discovering this gem.