“For me, that is the greatest inspiration the book offers. It affirms that outdoor adventure is not always about reaching the highest peak or covering the longest trail. Sometimes, it’s about sitting quietly on a shoreline, watching a seal bobbing in the current. Sometimes, it is about recognizing the return of a bird whose call you first heard as a child. Sometimes, it is about returning to a place you thought you knew—and seeing it again, this time with attention.” Amy Tucker reviews Wildlife Weekends in Southern British Columbia: Day and Multi-day Trips from Vancouver for Wildlife Viewing, by Roy Jantzen (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2024) $45 / 9781771604604
Acknowledging that “life’s mid-point [is] now far behind,” a writer’s volume of poems meditates on the past, family, nature, faith, love, and, generally (says our reviewer), “the latter part of life, with all of its disappointments and consolations.” —Carellin Brooks reviews The Time of Falling Apart, by Wendy Donawa (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $22.95 / 9781998526307
With a wealth of imagery and motifs, a captivating sophomore novel tells a tale of an uncertain pilgrimage; it “presents a more complex truth than typical family reunion stories: that survival sometimes requires accepting fundamental uncertainty about our own stories.” —Selena Mercuri reviews Rufous and Calliope, by Sarah Louise Butler (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771624572
In a pair of picture books for kids, nature is celebrated for its wondrous complexity and vital significance. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews I Am Connected, by Kung Jaadee (illustrated by Carla Joseph) (Victoria: Medicine Wheel Publishing, 2025) $22.99 / 9781778540639 and When a Tree Falls: Nurse Logs and Their Incredible Forest Power, by Kirsten Pendreigh (illustrated by Elke Boschinger) (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2025) $28.99 / 9781797218670
The Green Horse: My Early Years in the Canadian Rockies — A Park Warden’s Story by Dale Portman Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2017 $25.00 / 9781771602266 Reviewed by Michelle Murphy First published May 7, 2018 * Like many, I am captivated by the beauty and vastness of the Canadian Rockies – and curious about the… Read more #301 Glory days of Park Wardens
Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand against Big Hydro by Sarah Cox, foreword by Alex Neve Vancouver: UBC Press (On Point Press), 2018 $24.95 / 9780774890267 Review by John Gellard First published April 21, 2018 * From UBC Press’s new On Point Press, which aims to “introduce a broad audience… Read more #291 Disturbing: the Peace
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
Views of the Salish Sea: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Change around the Strait of Georgia by Howard Macdonald Stewart Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2017 $39.95 / 9781550178036 Reviewed by Peter Grant First published April 7, 2018 * Howard Macdonald Stewart’s Views of the Salish Sea: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Change around… Read more #283 Stewart’s Salish Sea
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
Euclid’s Orchard and Other Essays by Theresa Kishkan Salt Spring Island: Mother Tongue Publishing, 2017 $22.95 / 9781896949635 Reviewed by Catriona Sandilands First published Feb. 27, 2018 * My kitchen, on this wet, early January afternoon, is saturated with the smell of apples slowly reducing to become apple butter. In the almost-forgotten autumn, my daughter… Read more #254 Theresa Kishkan’s orchard
First published Jan. 29, 2018. Whale in the Door: A Community Unites To Protect BC’s Howe Sound by Pauline Le Bel Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2017. $24.95 / 9781987915488 Reviewed by Cherie Thiessen Mink and his sister, Skunk, gave a big potlatch on Gambier Island in Howe Sound. All the animals from around the area… Read more #241 Howe Sound advice
First published Dec. 14, 2017. The Land on Which We Live: Life on the Cariboo Plateau, 70 Mile House to Bridge Lake by Barbara MacPherson Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2017. $24.95 / 9781987915365 Reviewed by Harold Rhenisch * Barbara MacPherson has provided a popular oral history of the South Cariboo and North Bonaparte regions, stretching… Read more #220 From s7istkn to dude ranches
First published Dec. 12, 2017. Alison’s Fishing Birdsby 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 rivers…. Read more #219 Early Haig-Brown
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) describes the… 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
First published October 30, 2017 REVIEW: Enterprising Nature: Economics, Markets, and Finance in Global Biodiversity Politics by Jessica Dempsey Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. £19.99 (U.K.). / 978-1-118-64060-9 Reviewed by Juliane Collard * In Enterprising Nature: Economics, Markets, and Finance in Global Biodiversity Politics, UBC geographer Jessica Dempsey considers the problem of biodiversity loss in the modern… Read more #191 Biodiversity in the boardroom
Tar Wars: Oil, Environment and Alberta’s Imageby Geo Takach Edmonton: The University of Alberta Press, 2017$34.95 / 9781772121407 Reviewed by Nichole Dusyk First published Sept. 29, 2017 * In the first pages of Tar Wars, Geo Takach of Royal Roads University repudiates his own title and coins the term “bit-sands” to refer to the three vast… Read more #174 Lights, camera, action, debate
