Technology

Tested solutions from climate optimist

“Geselbracht, an environmental journalist and lawyer from Nanaimo who has written for Canadian Geographic and The Globe and Mail, has no time for climate denialism. Instead, he’s out to prove that climate action around the globe is making a difference; that there’s been progress in the effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and slow the planet’s warming.” Daniel Gawthrop reviews Climate Hope: Stories of Action in an Age of Global Crisis, by David Geselbracht (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2024) $24.95 / 9781771624268

Trainspotting at 603 kph

“Here, Haye’s drug of choice is speed, and not the illicit kind, for his clear-eyed aim is to track the fastest trains in history and to look to those that are coming in the future.” —Ron Verzuh reviews Quest for Speed: A History of Trains from Rocket to Bullet and Beyond, by Derek Hayes (Madeira Park, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2024) $44.95 / 978177162379

Conservation through tech

“Karen Bakker was a visionary scientist and scholar as well as something of a poet in the way she presents her research.” Carol Matthews reviews The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants by Karen Bakker (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022) $33 (USD) / 9780691206288

Was your day productive?

“Going to Seed is prefaced with an introduction that effectively situates the reader around Neville’s central thesis— consider what ‘being constantly occupied’ does to both an individual’s quality of life and the collective health of a community, society, and natural environment.” Natalie Virginia Lang reviews Going to Seed: Essays on Idleness, Nature, & Sustainable Work, by Kate J. Neville (Regina: University of Regina Press, 2024) $30.95 / 9781779400000

BC Review Annual Fundraiser, 2024

A note from Richard Mackie, publisher, The British Columbia Review. *  Dear friends, supporters, and readers, On behalf of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board of The British Columbia Review, I must mention our pressing need for continuing financial support from our reading community. We make this request for private donations annually to keep the…
Read more BC Review Annual Fundraiser, 2024

On data’s ‘practical immortality’

An “accessible, elucidating book that makes a persuasive plea for us to connect data literacy and human rights.” Plus, “a genuine pleasure to read.” —Jessica Poon reviews We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age, by Wendy H. Wong (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2023) $35/95 / 9780262048576

Terrifyingly-sequenced photographs / artifacts

“The cover image situates the viewer in a state of uncertainty, nay anxiety, holding our breath and straining to right ourselves vis-à-vis the disorienting photograph. This sets the tone for this aptly named book of photographs.” Ryan Gauvin reviews Delirium by John O’Brian (Vancouver: Delirium Editions, 2024) Limited Edition of 500 / 9781738144808
 

“Just Say Yes” and other wisdom

“After reading McDonald’s memoir…I found him refreshingly spontaneous and unpredictable…I knew from an interview last year focused on his nonfiction book, The Future is Now: Solving the Climate Crisis with Today’s Technology, that he’s one of the most contagiously positive and enthusiastic people I’ve ever met…” Cathalynn Labonté-Smith interviews Bob McDonald, author of his memoir Just Say Yes (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2024) $34.95 / 9781771624206

Chainsaw memories

“Aaron Williams was raised in logging camps in BC with an old-time logger for a father and a supportive mother and logging Grandmother Joy doing the raising. He makes good use of his youthful memories to tell us in first-person present tense the workings of various operations that make up the industry.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Last Logging Show: A Forestry Family at the End of an Era by Aaron Williams (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990776618

Leading the typographic ornamentation movement

“This type of book is Pinterest before Pinterest, a way of gathering inspiration when it was primarily an arduous task. The physicality is something that can never be discounted, and I imagine the authors of the future will continue to always refer to books like this, as nothing quite replaces the ah-ha experience of leafing through it and coming to know to things in an unexplainable way, like a dream guiding you in the middle of the night.” Thomas Girard reviews Pretty Pictures by Marian Bantjes (New York: Metropolis Books, 2013) $99.00 / 9781938922220

A century of Canadian aviation

“’Pathway to the Stars’ is a must for anyone interested in the story of Canadian aviation and the proud military accomplishments of the RCAF.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Pathway to the Stars: 100 Years of the Royal Canadian Air Force by Michael Hood and Tom Jenkins (Toronto: Aevo UTP, University of Toronto Press, 2023) $39.95 / 9781487547431

At ‘the edge of cataclysm,’ poetry

“In putting together pain, loss, and good feeling, the poems articulate a human capacity for gear shifting amidst dissonance—however imperfect.” —Marguerite Pigeon reviews Fine, by Matt Rader (Madeira Park: Nightwood Editions, 2024) $19.95 / 9780889714663

Where we jump forward to…

Canadian scholar and essayist Thomas Girard takes us into the future of typography, asking “How does typography play a role in what’s coming? There’s no better way, in my mind, than to talk to the experts.” Thomas Girard writes the essay Where we jump forward to…

‘What is credible hope, in this place?’

Highly recommended novella presents “a humane vision from an imagined future, of the potential that arises from valuing connection and collaboration in and with place.” —Dana McFarland reviews Arboreality, by Rebecca Campbell (Hamilton: Stelliform Press, 2022) $19.00 / 9781777682323

Where we enter

“Today, typography can be approached in many different ways whereas at many times in history there was simply a single story and single entry point. ” Thomas Girard writes Where We Enter, a third essay in his series for The British Columbia Review on the subject of typography.

‘Significant memento’ & ‘evocative artifact’

“What you are holding is clearly much more than a conventional report of a ‘project.'” Theo Dombrowski reviews Wetland Project: Explorations in Sound, Ecology and Post-Geographical Art by Brady Marks and Mark Timmings (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2022) $45.00 ISBN 9781773271996

AI and corporate intrigue

Although addictive and inventive, a debut novel’s storyline could use a trim. —Valerie Green reviews The Wickedest of Things, by Russel Barrie (Kamloops: Russel Barrie Books, 2023) $24.00 / 9781738060701

‘To the possibilities and pitfalls’

“…Randy Lee Cutler and Ingrid Koenig, two respected professors at Emily Carr University, received a major research grant to work with scientists at TRIUMF, Canada’s principal centre for particle physics research.” John O’Brian reviews Leaning Out of Windows: An Art and Physics Collaboration edited by Randy Lee Cutler and Ingrid Koenig (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2023) $45 ISBN 9781773272177

Working with the environment

“Wuest firmly roots her book’s subject as a Western Canadian cultural institution.” Matthew Downey reviews Douglas Lake Ranch: Empire of Grass by Donna (Yoshitake) Wuest with Joe W. Gardner (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2023) $50.00 / 9781990776427

Where is type going?

“Talking about specifics of typeface choices in a world where even typographic choices like serifs, italics, and double spacing can seem daunting enough, is a challenge.” Where is type going?
An Essay by Thomas Girard.
The second in a series of essays on the subject of typography.

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