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?
Green Mackinaw in Europe, 1954-55 by Alfred H. Siemens Victoria: FriesenPress Publishers, 2017 $25.99 / 9781460295342 Reviewed by Graeme Wynn * Green Mackinaw recalls the “brief shining time” that its author spent in Europe in the 1950s. Alfred Siemens, a UBC student in his early twenties, crossed the Atlantic in the fall of 1954 to…
Read more #230 A good year and a good man
Hallowed Ground: Stories of the Yale Pioneer Cemetery by Ian Brown Victoria: FriesenPress, 2017 $23.95 / 9781525508646 [Available at the Hope Visitor Centre and at Barry’s Trading Post in Yale.] Reviewed by Yvonne Van Ruskenveld First published Nov. 24, 2017 * If time machines ever become a reality, I’ll be first in line to travel…
Read more #210 Of strawberries & cemeteries
Joan Skogan was one of a kind An obituary by Alan Twigg First published August 20, 2017 * Born in Comox on September 29, 1945, Joan Skogan knew joy and sorrow. An intrepid researcher and a conscientious writer, she will be much missed by those who knew her fascinating, passionate nature. Joan Skogan could be…
Read more #159 Joan Skogan was one of a kind
First Published August 19, 2017 REVIEW: Infidels and the Damn Churches: Irreligion and Religion in Settler British Columbia by Lynne Marks Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017. $34.95 / 9780774833462 Reviewed by Chelsea Horton * More British Columbians self-identify as secular than do the populations of any other province in Canada today. And, historian Lynne Marks illustrates…
Read more #158 A province of non-believers
Victoria’s Most Haunted: Ghost Stories from BC’s Historic Capital City by Ian Gibbs Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2017 $19.95 / 9781771512138 Reviewed by Peter Grant First published August 13, 2017 * The standard general histories of the Victoria, most of them by popular (non-academic) historians, are now almost half a century old. These are: Derek Pethick’s…
Read more #152 Getting spidey in Victoria
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
The Promise of Paradise: Utopian Communities in British Columbia by Andrew Scott Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2017 $24.95 / 9781550177718 Reviewed by Keith Norbury First published June 15, 2017 * Five centuries ago, when Thomas More conceived of a fictional perfect society, he named it Utopia, from a Greek word meaning “nowhere.” Three-and-half centuries later,…
Read more #139 Perfection is hard work
James Legge and the Chinese Classics A Brilliant Scot in the Turmoil of Colonial Hong Kong by Marilyn Laura Bowman Victoria: FriesenPress Publishers, 2016 $37.99 / 9781460288832 Reviewed by Norman Girardot First published June 2, 2017 Born in the Peace River country, Marilyn Bowman studied at the University of Alberta and McGill and taught Clinical…
Read more #134 Resuscitation of James Legge
The Secular Northwest: Religion and Irreligion in Everyday Postwar Life by Tina Block Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017 $32.95 / 9780774831291 Reviewed by Chelsea Horton First Published March 31, 2017 * Tina Block has examined the nature of atheism in British Columbia and Washington State in the postwar period. “This was not a universally secular region,”…
Read more #111 Leave religion at the Rockies
ESSAY: Across the Bright Continent: Althea Moody, Missionary and Artist in Western Canada by Jennifer Iredale First published October 21, 2016 * Missionary, linguist, educator, and artist Althea Moody (1865-1930) spent twenty years (1891-1911) teaching at the Anglican Church’s All Hallows School in Yale. This school admitted both “Indian” and “White” girls, making it exceptional…
Read more #29 Althea Moody and All Hallows