First published April 7, 2018. A Field Guide to Insects of the Pacific Northwest by Robert Cannings Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2018. $7.95 / 9781550178340 Reviewed by Norma Kerby * One of the major gaps for the enthusiastic amateur naturalist has been an approachable guide to insects. Robert Cannings’ new field guide goes some distance…
Read more #284 Field Guide to Insects
Pacific Reef and Shore: A Photo Guide to Northwest Marine Life from Alaska to Northern California (Revised Second Edition) (First published by Harbour in 2003 as Pacific Reef and Shore: A Photo Guide to Northwest Marine Life) by Rick Harbo Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2017 $12.95 / 9781550177862 Reviewed by Cathy Carolsfeld First published April…
Read more #282 Creatures as teachers
First published Mar. 23, 2018. Best Places to Bird in British Columbia by Russell Cannings and Richard Cannings Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2017. $22.95 / 9781771641661 Reviewed by Briony Penn Naturalist and geographer Briony Penn reviews Best Places to Bird which highlights 275 B.C. bird species, viewable from thirty locations–more than half of B.C.’s species. –…
Read more #271 Birding hotspots of B.C.
Where The River Flows: Scientific Reflections on Earth’s Waterways by Sean W. Fleming Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2017 $26.95 (U.S.). / 9781400885022 Reviewed by Colin Levings First published March 19, 2018 * Sean Fleming, who received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. from UBC in 1994 and 2004 and is now a member of UBC’s Department…
Read more #268 How rivers can remember
Northern Star: J.S. Plaskett by R. Peter Broughton, with a foreword by James E. Hesser Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018. $67.50 / 9781442630178 Reviewed by John Hutchings First published Mar. 17, 2018 * John Stanley Plaskett (1865-1941) was the founder and first director of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria. This biography is well-timed, published…
Read more #266 Pioneering stargazer J.S. Plaskett
Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi: Teachings from Long Ago Person Found by Richard J. Hebda, Sheila Greer, and Alexander Mackie (editors) Victoria: Royal British Columbia Museum, 2017 $49.95 / 9780772666994 Reviewed by Tom Koppel First published March 7, 2018 * It was back in August of 1999, in the northwest corner of British Columbia, in the traditional territory of…
Read more #261 Tatshenshini Man
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
INTERVIEW: Rachel Rose with mutt maven Stanley Coren April 26, 2018 * Having produced possibly the bestselling non-fiction book about dogs ever written, The Intelligence of Dogs, as well as Why We Love The Dogs We Do, Dr. Stanley Coren has a career that most writers and researchers only dream of; his lectures at UBC routinely…
Read more #243 Going to the dogs with Stanley Coren
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and John Geiger, with a foreword by Wade Davis and an introduction by Margaret Atwood Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2017 (first published by Western Producer Prairie Books, 1988; subsequent editions by Douglas & McIntyre, 1998, and Greystone, 2004 and 2014) $24.95 / 9781771641739 Reviewed…
Read more #223 Starvation Cove & Terror Bay
First published Dec. 12, 2017. Alison’s Fishing Birds by Roderick Haig-Brown Illustrated by Sheryl McDougald Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2017. $21.95 / 9781987915198 (First published by Colophon Books, 1980). Reviewed by Caroline Fox * Roderick Langmere Haig-Brown (1908-1976) gained an international reputation for his meditative books on fly fishing on Vancouver Island’s Nimpkish and Campbell…
Read more #219 Early Haig-Brown revitalized
British Columbia: A Natural History of Its Origins, Ecology, and Diversity With a New Look at Climate Change (revised and expanded third edition; first published by Douglas & McIntyre, 1996) by Richard Cannings and Sydney Cannings Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2015. $34.95 / 9781771640732 Reviewed by Loys Maingon First published Dec. 10, 2017 * Richard and…
Read more #216 Ignorance is not bliss
First published Dec. 7, 2017. Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on Bering’s Great Voyage to Alaska by Stephen R. Bown (D&M $34.95) tells the story of The Great Northern Expedition which resulted in the mapping of the Arctic Coast of Siberia and large parts of the North American coastline, and the discovery…
Read more #215 Island of Blue Foxes
First published Dec. 4, 2017. Chasing Smoke. A Wildfire Memoir by Aaron Williams Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2017. $22.95 / 9781550178050 Reviewed by Dan Gallacher The threat of terrorism is over-rated. ‘First responders’ were everywhere in 2017 dealing with hurricanes, earthquakes and forest fires. Aaron Williams’ Chasing Smoke: A Wildfire Memoir (Harbour $22.95)…
Read more #213 The forest smokeaters
First published Nov. 29, 2017. Our Vanishing Glaciers: The Snows of Yesteryear and the Future Climate of the Mountain West by Robert William Sandford Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books 2017. $40 / 9781771602020 Reviewed by Clayton Whitt Melting glaciers and climate change may initially seem like odd topics for a coffee table book. But…
Read more #212 Our vanishing glaciers
At Home in Nature: A Life of Unknown Mountains and Deep Wilderness by Rob Wood Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2017 $22.00 / 9781771602518 Reviewed by John Gellard First published November 20, 2017 * Rob Wood might have saved my life … or at least my left foot. Some years ago I fell off a log…
Read more #204 Climbing bard of Maurelle Island
The Transcontinentalist: Or, The Joys of the Road Manuscript in the Laing Papers at the B.C. Archives, written in 1915 by Hamilton Mack Laing Reviewed by Trevor Marc Hughes First published Nov. 17, 2017 * Editor’s note: We are delighted that Trevor Marc Hughes has ventured into the voluminous Laing Papers at the British Columbia…
Read more #203 Mack, the life
First published Sept. 29, 2017 REVIEW: Wolf Island by Ian McAllister (photographs) and Nicholas Read (text) Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2017. $19.95 9781459812642 Reviewed by Carol Anne Shaw * Wolf Island is a picture book co-created by photographer, author, and Pacific Wild founder Ian McAllister and author and former journalist Nicholas Read. It is…
Read more #173 Always cry wolf
Some Useful Wild Plants: A Foraging Guide to Food and Medicine from Nature by Dan Jason Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2017 $16.95 / 9781550177916 Reviewed by Natasha Lyons First published Sept. 13, 2017 * Reviewing a book published before you were born is an interesting historical exercise. Dan Jason’s Some Useful Wild Plants: A Foraging…
Read more #169 A hero in the garden
The Summer Book: A Treasury of Warm Tales, Timeless Memories and Meditations on Nature by 24 BC writers by Mona Fertig (editor) Salt Spring Island: Mother Tongue Publishing, 2017. $24.95 / 9781896949611 Reviewed by Howard Macdonald Stewart First published July 1, 2017 * Mona Fertig of Mother Tongue Publishing has gathered 24 warm and poignant…
Read more #146 Poignant ruminations of summer
At Sea with the Marine Birds of the Raincoast by Caroline Fox Victoria: Rocky Mountain books, 2016 $25.00 / 9781771601627 Reviewed by Sean MacPherson First published April 28, 2017 * In At Sea with the Marine Birds of the Raincoast, conservation biologist Caroline Fox crosses thousands of kilometres of open ocean to chart the distribution…
Read more #126 Marine birds