Gabrielle Roy is one of my favorite authors and this book is just another example of how she is able, with few well chosen words, to reach deep into the human spirit. On the surface this is a simple story of a little girl growing up and her small adventures with her grand-mother, an older gentlemen in the neighborhood, and her own mother. And yet, it is so much more. It is about growing old. It is about memories. It is about what makes husband and wives stay together against all odds. It is about what makes life a special gift to each and every one of us. If you have not yet read Gabrielle Roy, you are in for a very unique and special treat!!

This small paperback, now sadly out-of-print, was one of the best exercise guides ever written. Whether you are a novice or a professional athlete, the workouts take only 11 - 12 minutes/day, and help you develop fitness in all major body areas, using both aerobic and resistance calisthenics. The rate of progression is paced for the individual user, and allows for creativity and innovation. We started using this program 5 years ago, and both I and my wife lost 10# of fat and replaced it with a lot of muscle, endurance and confidence. If the book is ever re-printed, it should be a must-buy for the starting fitness novice.

Joe LeMaster, MD Department of Family Medicine University of Washington

Wonderful book that can be used to further talk about the story of Canada. My kids want to hear it over and over.

Olson's use of sensory description is a powerful tool in his writing, particularly Ghost Camps of the North (an essay in Ruins of the North). Olson takes the reader on a fantastic adventure in each and every one of his essays. Not only does he take the reader to various geographical locations, but he also takes the reader back to the days of the French/ Canadian Voyageurs, and trappers. Ruins of the North contains work that traces the path the voyagers took from Montreal to Grand Portage, and into the far North The careful description of the Hunting Moon rising has a majical quality about it. Olson is a master nature/ wilderness interpreter that has given the canoeist/ camper a wealth of stories to tell. Reading an essay from Ruins of the North just before one retires at night insures a night filled with vivid dreams, and sound sleep. This can best be illistrated by the Essay The Dream Net.

I've been reading Jim Unger for a few decades now, and his dark, wry humor may occasionally be equalled (such as the Farside by Gary Larson), but it has never been surpassed. This book is a treasure, as are all of the compilations of his work. Highly recommended!

I was very surprised to find how readable David Marshall is in this treatise. I am a historian by training as well as temperment. This book has the ring of truth all the way from front to back cover. It is in no way church or christian bashing. The author has done a masterful job of showing how far down the church has come from the days of the Puritans and Quakers that founded both Canada and the United States. I admire his scolarship. Mr. Marshall has shown that the dominant consumer culture created in the 1800's has so seeped into the church that it has lost it's cultural dominance, if not significance.

Do not mistake me. I am a devoted follower of the Lord Jesus. I am a Christian all the way. But, I am also aware that there has been a cancer growing in the church for some time. David Marshall shows the reader the beginnings of the lump of cancer (leven) through the near death of the patient. From 1840 to 1940 he has shown (in the Canadian Church) the church giving up it's biblical mandates for social ones. He demonstrates how the church leaders desired more that their churches remain relevent than Christ-like. Everywhere the church leaders turned during that hundred years they were challenged with culture on a scale not seen in church history. But, instead of relying on that which is transendent, they leaned towards the secular gospel to try and attract more people to their particular denominations.

It became a war of ideology, not theology. They mistakenly believed that numbers meant success (sounds just like many T.V. evangelists today). They attempted to create programs and special classes in their colleges to deal with science and the new literary criticism coming out of Germany. They had to show that the bible could be explained in light of evolutionary theory. Mr. Marshall shows how all of these aspects of their change stunted the growth of the Canadian church, but also may have lowered it to cultural insignificance in the present day.

I liked this book for the truths it portrays. I do not like having to admit to "MY" church having given up it's place in society because it lost it's belief in a transendant G-d. I shudder to think how many people have been inoculated with Christianity, never to have anything to do with it again when they see the shallowness of it. I see many preachers today living out the logical conclusions of a secularized church. They are all over the television. For whatever reason, they are still chosing to preach a social gospel, versus the one that is in the bible.

I do have a bias against the T.V. preachers. (Especially the ones on the Trinity Broadcasting Network) I think Mr. Marshall shows us in his study of Canadian clergy from 1840 to 1940 that a great wrong has been done to the church by its leaders and I say that this wrong can easily be seen on television today.

This is a must read book for people looking for the real church and the real Christ. I do not know whether David Marshall is a christian or not, but he has done a great service to the whole North American church. I know I have sounded hyperbolic. But, I believe we live in a time when such work as this must be read and understood.

This is the pretty much the current and standard guide to the Canadian Rockies. More complete guides exist, though they are rare and out of print. This guide presents 200 of the best climbs, eliminating overdrawn discussions of the obscure and focusing nicely on routes that have become legendary in the mountaineering world. The book itself is well made and suitable for the top of your pack.

This is Bruce McManus' masterpiece, the one where he got everything right. As Harold, the main character, says, "When you believe in things, it costs." As succeeding generations of new arrivals rent his house, and pay the costs of adapting to their new surroundings, they all must make the choice of what to keep and what to leave behind from their previous life. At once the most idealistic and most cynical person in the play, Harold pays the steepest price for standing by his beliefs.

As we watch his journey, and those of his tenants, we learn poignant lessons in the meaning of life and the choices we must all make to live in a world not of our making. Like all the great plays in world literature, this play is a mixture of comic and tragic elements that blend seamlessly into an entrancing vehicle for performance.

True-to-life characters, sharp, musical dialogue, and faultless cosntruction make this the great Canadian play.