Edward Feuz Jr.: A Story of Enchantment by D.L. Stephen Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2021 $28.00 / 9781771605090 Reviewed by Ron Dart * Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. — John Muir (quoted in Edward Feuz Jr., p. 277) The Canadian mountaineering tradition has its layered origins in the role of the CPR…
Read more 1484 Edward Feuz, alpine legend
Head to Head by Jennifer Manuel Toronto: James Lorimer, 2020 $12.95 / 9781459414280 Reviewed by Valerie Green * In this young adult book for 10 to 13 year-olds, Jennifer Manuel has written a story which will inspire all young girls who love sports. But the book also carries a strong message of how team work…
Read more 1483 A west coast soccer story
ESSAY: Swiss Edelweiss Village: to be or not to be? by Ron Dart * Swiss guides were front and centre in the origins and development of mountaineering and mountain culture in Western Canada. The fact that much of their work was divided between Lake Louise and Rogers Pass meant that Golden, BC, became their place…
Read more 1481 Save Swiss Edelweiss Village
Overcoming the Neutral Zone Trap: Hockey’s Agents of Change by Cheryl A. MacDonald and Jonathon R.J. Edwards (editors) Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2021 $34.99 / 9781772125795 Reviewed by Daniel Gawthrop * To anyone who watches the game with a critical eye, it should not come as news that the mainstream hockey establishment suffers from…
Read more 1441 Oh, the good new hockey game
A Journey Back to Nature: A History of Strathcona Provincial Park by Catherine Marie Gilbert Victoria: Heritage House, 2021 $26.95 / 9781772033588 Reviewed by Matthew Downey * The past year in British Columbia has seen activism and protests centred on the forest industry and controversies over the logging of old growth rainforest. In such a…
Read more 1350 Making & taking Strathcona Park
Harking by George Mercer North Saanich: George Mercer, 2021; printed by Friesens, Altona, Manitoba $19.99 / 9780987975485 Reviewed by Valerie Green * George Mercer’s book Harking is described as a book for young adults. I am sure, however, it will appeal to people of all ages who enjoy and respect the wilderness. Set in Jasper…
Read more 1332 Harking: growing up in Jasper
Caught on the Trail: Nature’s Wildlife Selfies by Dale Bakken and Sandra Lynch-Bakken Surrey: Hancock House, 2020 $24.95 / 9780888390585 Reviewed by Jocie Brooks * A curious black bear nuzzles the camera on the cover of Caught on the Trail: Nature’s Wildlife Selfies. This book offers “up close and personal” views of BC’s wildlife that…
Read more 1323 Eavesdropping in the bush
Geography of British Columbia: People and Landscapes in Transition (fourth edition) by Brett McGillivray Vancouver: UBC Press, 2020 $55.00 / 9780774864329 Reviewed by Ken Favrholdt * Brett McGillivray’s Geography of British Columbia: People and Landscapes in Transition has withstood the test of time since its first edition in 2000, which I reviewed for BC Studies…
Read more 1305 McGillivray’s essential geography
Destination Hikes In and Around Southwestern British Columbia: swimming holes, mountain peaks, waterfalls and more by Stephen Hui, with a foreword by Cecilia Point Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2021 $24.95 / 9781771645300 Reviewed by Ron Dart * I have before me a few first edition books (collectors’ items I assume) that were pioneering guide books in…
Read more 1264 Affirming the trekking tradition
Mountain Man: The Life of a Guide Outfitter by Hiram Cody Tegart with Andrew Bruce Richards Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2019 $24.95 / 9781773860060 Reviewed by Sage Birchwater * Mountain Man: The Life of a Guide Outfitter by Hiram Cody Tegart with Andrew Bruce Richards takes us to another place and time. The East Kootenays…
Read more 1120 East Kootenay guide outfitter
ESSAY: Remnants of Sumas Mountain by Natalie Lang For those who came before and those not yet arrived. * And forever before me gleams, The shining city of song, In the beautiful land of dreams. But when I would enter the gate Of that golden atmosphere, It is gone, and I wonder and wait For…
Read more 1071 Remnants of Sumas Mountain
ESSAY: Walking in the time of Corona by Nina Watts * It was a Friday morning in May and I had arranged to meet my friend on a street corner close to her home in the Strathcona neighbourhood of Vancouver. We were planning an urban wander with no particular destination. As I walked west from…
Read more 1015 Letters from the Pandemic 18: Walking in the time of Corona
Family Walks and Hikes in the Canadian Rockies, Volume 1: Bragg Creek, Kananaskis, Bow Valley, Banff National Park by Andrew Nugara Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2019 $20.00 / 9781771602242 * Family Walks and Hikes in the Canadian Rockies, Volume 2: Bragg Creek, Kananaskis, Moraine Lake, Yoho, Icefields Parkway, Jasper by Andrew Nugara Victoria: Rocky Mountain…
Read more #953 Gently into the mountains
Close to the Bone by Dorothy Kirk Victoria: Vargas Publishing, 2020 $14.00 / 9781777011802 Reviewed by Rose Morrison * “I have only felt regret and longing,” writes Dorothy Kirk, “for things I never tried, or words I never spoke.” Kirk’s Close to the Bone is an account of her first year of wilderness living on…
Read more #888 Roughing it on Vargas Island
Rolling Thunder by A.J. Devlin Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2020 $18.95 / 9781988732862 Reviewed by Caileigh Broatch * In 2018 A.J. Devlin’s first novel, Cobra Clutch, won the Best First Canadian Crime Novel at the 2019 Arthur Ellis Awards in Toronto. The mystery novel was jam-packed with pro wrestlers and scuzzy bikers. “Hammerhead” Jed Ounstead, night…
Read more #878 The return of Hammerhead Jed
Nerve: A Personal Journey Through the Science of Fear by Eva Holland Toronto: Penguin Random House (Allen Lane), 2020 $32.95 / 9780735237339 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * Editor’s note: The West Coast Book Prize Society announced on April 8, 2021, that Nerve: A Personal Journey Through the Science of Fear, by Eva Holland, has been shortlisted for…
Read more #870 A clear-eyed analysis of fear
The Grim Reaper: The Life and Career of a Reluctant Warrior by Stu Grimson with Kevin Allen Toronto: Penguin Random House (Viking), 2019 $32.95 / 9780735237247 Reviewed by Timothy Lewis * Stu Grimson played 729 games in the National Hockey League, recording 17 goals and 22 assists. Those are not scoring statistics normally associated with…
Read more #851 Hockey fighting man
The Best of the Great Trail, Volume 2: Northern Ontario to British Columbia on the Trans Canada Trail by Michael Haynes Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2019 $29.95 / 9781773100326 Reviewed by Walter Volovsek * As a trail builder and avid hiker, I was very impressed by Michael Haynes’s Volume 2 of The Best of the…
Read more #845 BC portion Trans Canada Trail
Treed: Walking in Canada’s Urban Forests by Ariel Gordon Hamilton, ON: Wolsak & Wynn, 2019 $20.00 / 9781928088752 Reviewed by Jaime Yard * It took me an inordinately long time to read Ariel Gordon’s Treed. This does not mean that it isn’t a good book. In truth, I think the pace may have been set…
Read more #816 Walking through the pandemic
Popular Day Hikes: Northern Okanagan, Vernon Shuswap Lumby by Gerry Shea Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2019 (revised and updated; first published 2013) $20.00 / 9781771602457 * Popular Day Hikes: South-Central Okanagan, Kelowna Penticton Oliver by Gerry Shea Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2019 (revised and updated; first published 2015) $20.00 / 9781771602778 Both books reviewed by…
Read more #805 Hiking the Okanagan Valley