Canada Books

Well done guide. It is organized, thoughtful and balances the standard information of travel guides with the more local places you would otherwise found only by a chance. Time is precious, so it is useful to know you can leave the center without being lost and dependent on locals.

The guide is precise, visually perfect, with a balanced set of sites and useful information. I visited Toronto couple of weeks ago and although I have been there before, this time I enjoyed the trip a lot more.

This book is a must for all people who have anything to do with babies. It explains why babies and parents behave the way they do and where this behaviour comes from. Myths like "babies can be trained" are explained and disposed of in a scientific, yet extremely easy to read and often humorous manner.

Read this and you'll know how to respond properly to your baby

Desmond Morris had a simple way of explaining things ... and presenting scientific evidence to help people understand ourselves. In this book about babies, we develop a compassionate view of the smallest of our species: their needs, their loves, what makes them laugh ... But what you could learn from the book is not just about babies. It is about us, even adults. Think why we laugh, think why we cry. Think what makes us happy. Think what makes us sad. We were all babies once ... and a baby is inside all of us from time to time. Most of Morris's books bring us back down to our awareness of our animal selves ... our innocence, stupidity, disguises, most basic needs and wants. This is just another one. Perfect for the parents who like to understand their babies in "principle", not just in a large set of rules of "dos" and "donts".

Easy to use. Descriptive. Helpful to know which hikes to take and the difficutly of each hike as well as the highlights associated with each.

A very comprehensive and detailed guide to many of the lesser known trails (as well as the more known ones). Many of the maps are good, some are clearly lacking detail; however, it allows the natural sense of adventure to flourish in the beautiful environs. The book provides a wonderful overview of the area when the chapters are put together. Mike's directional ordering made it very easy to connect one trail with another for a day of small hikes or a day of longer hikes. I traveled too late to stay at any of the backcountry campsites covered; however, we did follow some of the hikes to/from, and they were incredible. I highly recommend travelling to this area immediately after Labor Day as there are fewer crowds.

This is an absolute MUST for everyone mountain biking in the Canadian Rockies. The maps and descriptions of the trail are extremly acurate and are extremly useful.

This guide book gives a good review of all the major mountain biking trails in Southern Alberta. The maps are good and there are entertaining photos throughout of some vintage mountain bikers.

The difficulty ratings are quite realistic, in my opinion.

Backroad Mapbooks: Southwestern Alberta is a complete outdoor recreational guide for those working, living, or traveling to southern Alberta. This book contains full colour maps showing the smallest back road, river tributary, and lake. Maps also include details on the size and general condition of roads; location of campsites and tourist information centers; and indoor and outdoor recreational areas.

This book also contains a very detailed reference section with information on fishing regulations and fishing tips; lake and river paddling routes (including put in and take out areas); parks and campgrounds; hiking, walking, and sightseeing trails; wildlife viewing areas, and winter recreation areas. Within each of these sections, various areas of southwestern Alberta are explored with detailed entries on particular locations, sites, and areas. This part of the book will be particularly useful to those visiting the area as well as residents looking for something new to do.

As an archaeologist, I do a lot of back road and oilfield access trail driving. Usually, the development or survey map I am given is in really bad shape and usually twenty or thirty years out of date. Therefore, I usually have to guess how to get to my project area. This takes up extra time that could be better used on site. Using this map though, I now have a good idea of the exact oilfield roads to take to get to my sites. I even have an idea of how good of road conditions I can expect on these roads saving me a good deal of valuable time.

In this way, the map portion of this guide will be particularly helpful for those working in the oilfield industry. This book actually shows many of the existing back roads and oilfield roads so that the reader can quickly find a way into his or her project area. I know of only one other map book with such detail. This other book retails at over $250, making Backroad Mapbooks: Southwestern Alberta much more economically reasonable.

As a reference on out door activities in this area, this is a good book.

Extremely detailed maps show hiking trails, boat launches, hang gliding spots, horse back riding trails, out of the way campgrounds, etc. Separate sections on trails, fishing, paddling and parks/campgrounds with descriptions are cross indexed. If you can put the pieces together, the total amount of information in this book is impressive

5 star all the way. Beautiful illustrations, sweet story. No question about it, you should buy it.

I just bought this book for my 5 year-old daughter and she loves it. The charming story contains some positive lessons about hard work and friendship, and introduces to children the concept that a big fancy house is not necessarily the best home for everyone; sometimes the little old cozy cottage feels more like home.

The book's real strong point though is the illustrations. The art in this book is so soft and friendly looking, as well as detailed. Your child will love poring over the beautiful illustrations in this book.

Highly recommended.

i read this book to my brother who has asthma too. he is 4 and he realy enjoyed it i recommend it.

This is a wonderful story which conveys the resourcefulness of children. More than that, Michael provides a view from within the Inuit culture. He illuminates for those of us who did not grow up on the Arctic Circle what it is to live in that harsh environment. At the same time, he shows us how alike we all are: enjoying the holidays and a good baseball game with friends.
Vladyana's magnificent art is an added bonus.
I bought this book after hearing Michael tell the story at the International Reading Association teachers' conference in 1999. Since that time, it has become one of my favorites, as well as a favorite of my students and my colleagues.

Bass Culture
This is a great resource for any fan of reggae, or anyone interested in Jamaica's recent social/cultural history. Bradley's obviously spent a lot of time collecting and sifting through the history of the music, a seemingly impossible task when you consider the haphazard and apocryphal nature of it all, and presents the accumulated knowledge in a fair and balanced way. Doubtless, there's small inaccuracies here and there but this book is one of the most thorough I've read on the subject. I found this book to be a goldmine of information and it lead me to discover some wonderful music and musicians which may have otherwise passed me by.

At over 500 pages this thick little British import is an exhaustive survey of the Roots Rocker Era of reggae: '69 thru early 80's when dancehall took over.

The book begins with the birth of Jamaican music, and the rise of the sound systems. Ska, Rocksteady, then Roots Reggae are examined. Economics,and the rise of Rastafarism are woven throughout the story.

The various producers and their work are discussed, along with the importance of Britain as a sales base, and the emergence of Trojan.

Dub, DJ's, producers, singers, rhythm sections, etc are all discussed.

This very dense and packed with stories and information I cannot imagine anyone being disappionted as long as they realize this deals exclusively with the 70's roots era.

Will Ferguson plows through centuries of Canadian history in Bastards and Boneheads, a book that beautifully judges the personalities that have created and built Canada. This is a book for those who do not think Canadian history is very interesting or eventful. Very colourful personalities have made their will known in both helpful and harmful shaping this country and they come alive within these pages. This book will also shatter the myth of Canadians as "nice" people, because quite often we are not, particularly looking at the Holocaust of the WWII, the Japanese internments, and the relations with First Nations people (such as the chapter on Oka). The author's examination of more recent history, from the October Crisis to Chretien is also very illuminating. In the end how can any book with a chapter called "Ranking the Prime Ministers, From the Great to Mulroney" be all that bad. A wonderful book on a fascinating country. Highly recommended.

Ferguson does a wonderful job making Canadian history, traditionally perceieved as a dull topic, into an enthralling tale of a budding nation, people, and the strange contradiction that is inherent to all things Canadian. The language is simple, yet the ideas are very critical. The humoUr is terrific, yet Ferguson pulls no punches in condemning some of Canada's more shameful history. An excellent primer for anybody interested in Canadian history.

'The Bay of Love and Sorrows' is one of the best books--if not THE best--I've ever read.

Most books tend to be draggy at the start. This is an exception. It sucks you in from the beginning. It sucks you in and makes you feel like you're an observer, watching everything that's going on as the author describes it. You get outraged, you get saddened, you feel relief,...you feel everything as you read through this; and as you get further and further along, you don't want to stop reading.

The characters are human. No one is saintly, everyone has their faults and strengths. The actions and scenery are described very well--sometimes in a few words, sometimes in many words.

More importantly, though, it makes you think about how justice is doled out sometimes--how sometimes those who have nothing to do with what has happened end up suffering before those involved get their just desserts. It also makes you think about how some people will believe anything anyone tells them, without having the audacity and the know-how to question everything.

A definite must-read.

If you've not read any of David Adams Richards' books, you're missing a wonderful experience. Richards is master of the sublime, even when covering gritty topics and plotlines. Such as it is in this title; the characters are imperfect, flawed, some of them disturbed, outcast. This story is a tangled web woven, entrapping the souls it skirts, unravelling their lives as the situation(s) gain momentum. There are truly haunting moments experienced as one absorbs the tale. Although the reader will have affinity with the characters' very human flaws, Richards never allows us to get too close and I believe he does that deliberately; this fiction takes an in-depth look at the shallowness of living on the edge and the waste that it is.

The story will pull you in gently and carry you along with ease - the writing is so good you don't notice it... you simply absorb the story and its characters.

I've been keeping my eyes open for more of this writer's works (I started with his latest "Mercy Among the Children") as he has quickly become one of my fave writers. This is an excellent starter into the rich and dense world of David Adams Richards. Enjoy.