Voices from Hornby & Denman Island Home Support, 1979-2019 by Megan J. Davies and Rachel Barken (editors) Hornby and Denman Community Health Care Society, 2019 $10.00 / 978199278403 Available from Abraxas Books, Denman Island Reviewed by Lee Reid * “Will there be help for me when I am old and in need?” is the enduring…
Read more #715 Growing old on Hornby and Denman
When Days are Long: Nurse in the North by Amy Wilson, with an introduction by Laurel Deedrick-Mayne Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2019. First published in Sidney by Gray’s Publishing, 1965 $24.95 / 9781773860084 Reviewed by Heather Longworth Sjoblom * “Such a challenge! And I couldn’t resist it,” wrote Amy Wilson about her acceptance as field…
Read more #701 Nine years of northern nursing
UBC: The Next Century by Tyee Bridge, with a foreword by Santa J. Ono Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2019 $40.00 / 9781773270883 Reviewed by Herbert Rosengarten * From the beginning the University of British Columbia (UBC) has nurtured ambitions of greatness. Its potential was recognized by BC’s premier, Sir Richard McBride, who sent his congratulations…
Read more #700 The university of Point Grey
Whatever Gets You Through: Twelve Survivors on Life after Sexual Assault by Stacey May Fowles and Jen Sookfong Lee (editors), with a foreword by Jessica Valenti Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2019 $22.95 / 9781771643733 Reviewed by Kimberly Webster and Chris Montoya * This book will piss you off. Who wants to be the perfect — or…
Read more #606 Whatever gets you through
In His Steps: The Life and Times of Wilberforce Cooper, Vancouver’s Skid Road Priest by Peter J. Cooper Victoria: FriesenPress Publishers, 2019 $27.68 / 9781525544545 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * St. James’s Anglican Church presides over Vancouver’s Downtown East Side — presides over but does not loom over. Described as simultaneously Byzantine, Gothic Revival, and…
Read more #590 Mission to skid row
Drawbridge: Drawing Alongside My Brother’s Schizophrenia by Joan Boxall Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9781773860022 Reviewed by Janet Nicol * A memoir told in ten lyrical essays, Drawbridge: Drawing Alongside My Brother’s Schizophrenia is Joan Boxall’s moving tribute to her brother, Stephen Corcoran. In the early 2000s, Joan became co-trustee of Stephen following…
Read more #584 Brother artist at the edge
The Whole-Body Microbiome: How to Harness Microbes — Inside and Out — for Lifelong Health by B. Brett Finlay and Jessica M. Finlay Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre 2019 $26.95 / 9781771622202 Reviewed by Sandi Ratch * Most of us go through our daily lives not realizing that we have an army of microbe helpers…
Read more #545 Microbes good and bad
The Little Book of Cannabis: How Marijuana Can Improve Your Life by Amanda Siebert, foreword by Rav Ivker Vancouver: Greystone Books: 2018 $14.95 / 9781771644044 Reviewed by Derek von Essen First published Feb. 14, 2019 * The dialogue surrounding cannabis cultivation and usage in Canada has changed recently with the legalization and the impending corporatization…
Read more #487 Welcome to the new Cann lit
First published October 19th, 2018. All Together Healthy: A Canadian Wellness Revolution by Andrew MacLeod Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2018 $22.95 / 9781771621885 Reviewed by Trevor Hancock * Governments in Canada, argues Andrew MacLeod, choose to prioritize spending on medical care, which is akin to treating the symptom and not the disease. Ormsby reviewer…
Read more #403 Health before healthcare
The Suitcase and the Jar: Travels with a Daughter’s Ashes by Becky Livingston Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2018 $22.95 / 9781987915747 Reviewed by Carys Cragg First published September 12th, 2018 * After Becky Livingston lost her 23-year old daughter Rachel to a brain tumour, she set off on a global walkabout for 798 days, scattering…
Read more #372 Scattering Rachel’s ashes
Growing Home: the Legacy of Kootenay Elders by Lee Reid Nelson: Growing Home Elders Press, 2017 $26.95 / 9780995816404 Reviewed by Duff Sutherland First published September 08th, 2018 * In Growing Home: the Legacy of Kootenay Elders, Lee Reid profiles seventeen men and women, born between the 1920s and 1950s, who made their lives in the…
Read more #369 West Kootenay lives and land
Better Sex Through Mindfulness: How Women Can Cultivate Desire by Lori A. Brotto Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2018 $22.95 / 9781771642354 Reviewed by Becki L. Ross First published August 13, 2018 * New from Greystone Books comes Better Sex Through Mindfulness: How Women Can Cultivate Desire by Lori A. Brotto, a psychologist, sex researcher, and Canada…
Read more #341 Cultivating desire
First published May 15, 2018. Pulling Together: A Coach’s Journey to Uncover the Mindset of True Potential by Jason Dorland, foreword by David Meggyesy Victoria: Heritage House, 2017. $19.95 / 9781772031737 Reviewed by Brian Fraser * Jason Dorland is on a mission. He’s well prepared. He has spent his life training, performing, and coaching as…
Read more #303 Removing antagonism to win
Ryga Award announcement, 2018 This year’s Ryga Award winner for Social Awareness goes to Georgia Straight journalist Travis Lupick for Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction. First published March 6, 2018 * “I hope that Fighting for Space receiving this award encourages discussion of Canada’s overdose…
Read more #260 Travis’s travail wins Ryga
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Random House Canada), 2018 $34.95 / 9780345816023 Reviewed by Ron Dart First published Feb. 23, 2018 * Controversial University of Toronto psychologist and cultural critic Jordan Peterson, condemned by Maclean’s as “the stupid man’s smart person,” has spoken to…
Read more #251 The stupid man’s smart person?
Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction by Travis Lupick Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017 $24.95 / 9781551527123 Reviewed by Danya Fast First published Feb. 4, 2018 * Locally and globally, Vancouver is celebrated for its world-class harm reduction and social housing programs, and regarded as a…
Read more #244 Downtown Eastside influencers
The Sacred Herb / The Devil’s Weed by Andrew Struthers Vancouver: New Star, 2017 $19 / 9781554201150 Reviewed by Erika Dyck First published June 23, 2017 * British Columbia is the perfect setting for this timely book on…
Read more #142 Sacred Herb & Devil’s Weed
Medicine Unbundled: A Journey Through the Minefields of Indigenous Health Care by Gary Geddes Victoria: Heritage House, 2017 $22.95 / 9781772031645 Reviewed by Mary-Ellen Kelm First published April 4, 2017 * Harold Cardinal’s assessment of Canada’s Indigenous policy in 1969 as “a thinly disguised programme of extermination” in The Unjust Society is born out almost…
Read more #114 From apartheid to resurgence
The Defiant Mind: Living Inside a Stroke by Ron Smith Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2016 $22.95 / 9781553804802 Reviewed by Mark Forsythe First published November 15, 2016 * Ron Smith, the founder of Oolichan Books, thinks the word “stroke” is far too light to describe a brain that has been “attacked” or “carpet bombed.” In his…
Read more #43 Defiance, hope, and healing