Frommers now has numerous books that cover British Columbia as part of larger guides. I have the British Columbia/Canadian Rockies one, but they all contain the same text, which has been repackaged into different titles. As to this book itself, the layout is easy to find your way around and the information is reliable and has obviously been well researched. The hotel listings are especially detailed, down to descriptions of inroom curtains. This formula obviously appeals to many travelers and while I often pass up their hotel listings (too expensive for me), their restaurant descriptions are extremely helpful for me when on the road. They often describe actual dishes giving me a great feel of what to expect in each restaurant.

On the downside, so much space is given to accommodations and restaurants that the most important part of traveling is as good as ignored-what there is to see and do. The reason I travel and that BC is so popular as a destination is the great outdoors. I want to read about what there is do and what to see-the best hiking trails in the national parks, why it's worth my money to go whalewatching, etc. Many marvelous places in the province are missing completely. The book also lacks photos and the maps are poor or outdated (nothing that a good map from a gas station will fix!).

In conclusion, I like the look and feel of the Frommers book and have found that I can rely it when it comes to dining information. I always carry the Moon book as a reference for the ins and outs of each town and together the two books make perfect partners for my travels.

I am just several days before spending my holiday in British Columbia and the Canadian rockies, and this book really gives a lot of pre-fun. Very informative, very useful information (with places to stay, places to dine, must see attractions etc.) and an enthusiastic style make it a pleasure to read. I am sure that it will be of great value for every tourist who will visit this part of Canada.

I have used this book by Father Denissen many times over the last 28 years. I find it very useful and most accurate. I have used Father Dennision's information as a spring board to finding and verifing birth, marriage and death information on my ancestors. I marvel at the task he accomplished without computers. He has given me complete generations on many of my lines. If you have French families in this area of the country I advise you to start with these books you will not regret the time you spend searching through these two volumns.

Wonderful reference books with very accurate information, has been loads of help with my research.

A great look at the political workings at the top of the Canadian Army, with insightful comments about the gulf between the PF (regular army) and the NPAM (reserve army) and how some things never change!

Only criticism would be the use of terminology such as GSO II, Brigade Major etc. for officers, but no explanation of what their duties are - Granatstein presumes we know what these positions are for.

That is a minor detail, however, and the meat of the text is in its profiles - professional and personal - of Canada's war time generals. The book could easily have been twice as long and retained interest, even so, the focus on the top few generals is well worth the price asked for this book. Granatstein is in his element discussing with conviction the experience of the senior officers.

When the western democracies went to war they all lacked anything close to reasonable numbers of professional officers. Canada had only one basic officer school, Royal Military College in Kingston. This graduated only a handful each year, and post graduate studies had to be completed in Britain. For an Army that was to number two thirds of a million and command an Army Group of 400,000 in Europe, qualified leadership was in short supply.
Jack Granatstein has been a respected historian and curator of the Canadian War Museum for some time. By writing a reasonably detailed overview of WW 2 Canadian Generals he provides a very readable outline. Grouping his subjects by chronology, a comparison of strengths and weaknesses is revealed. The effects of WW 1 and the changing nature of Canadian life is evident.
No punches are pulled in this book. Generals were fired or never deployed due to age, infirmity, incompetence and inexperience. A comparison of German training shows how superior their leadership was, not at the highest 'one on one' level, but at the battalion, brigade and division level, where wars are fought and won.
Any student of Canadian history or military history in general would find this a valued addition.

This book won one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards. In 1983, it was given the Canada Council Children's Literature Prize... the first poetry book ever to be awarded it. is based on true-life events, which occurred in 1874.

A good book to give to a child in whom you want to instill with a love of poetry.

My youngest daughter and I checked this out of the library originally. We both loved it so much that we checked it out again and again. When I volunteered at the school, I tried to read it aloud to the class and couldn't get through it through the tears. I bought her, her own copy for Christmas last year even though she's 20 now and she says it's one of the best gifts she's ever gotten. Now I'm looking for a copy for me.

It is surprising to find a cook book without any pictures, which immediately left me skeptical. The recipes range from soup to dessert, but many seem very similar to each other. As competetive as the market is for cookbooks, playing on the fact that this was written by professional, female chefs provides a new twist. There is no doubt in my mind these recipes will work for any level of cook, even though a few ingredients may be hard to find. I think the concept has promise, and the recipes work well, but the contributors should have focused on a better variety of dishes. This book would please a chef looking to impress discriminating guests and seeking new ideas for dinner parties. Finally, it bears mentioning that this book has the metric conversions for its recipes as well.

The Girls Who Dish! doesn't have pictures, but the recipes evoke an image of great food put together with flair and imagination. The recipes sometimes combine unusual items in new ways, but the underlying emphasis is on good food cooked well. Everything I have tried from this book has been exceptional.

This collection is more limited in scope than Cor Van Den Heuvel's "The Haiku Anthology." Most of the haiku here were originally written or published between 1982 and 1992. The restriction to North American haiku leaves out some notable English-language haiku poets. Still this is an interesting collection. A few examples -- Alexis Rotella:

An old woman with bread / waves the geese down / from the sky.

Robert Spiess:

Winter wind-- / bit by bit the swallow's nest / crumbles in the barn

George Swede:

Night begins to gather between her breasts

As I said, an interesting collection, but one that I'd only recommend if you already have Cor Van Den Heuvel's anthology.

800 'haiku moments'! in one book. Recommended to haiku writers everywhere, not just in the US. A wide range of topics covered. The introduction will interest both experienced haikuists and beginners. Excellent haiku many by famous names, not readily available elsewhere.

"High Flight" is the brief story of the poem of the same title and its author, John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Often thought to be British, Magee was an American who served, and died, in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. This book, for readers ten years and older, recounts Magee's life as a child of missionaries in China, his studies in Rugby school in England, his life in America, and his career in the RCAF. Interwoven with his story is the story of his famous poem and the events of WWII. The story is beautfully told and illustrated. It brought tears to my eyes and will be a joy for boys young and old.

This delightful children's book, well worth reading by any adult whose imagination has risen above a stepladder up to some leaf-clogged eaves, is about the Royal Canadian Air Force pilot and the greatest poem ever written about the joys of flight.

Magee, an American born in China, went to school in England, joined the Canadian air force and died in a training accident in England just four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour launched the United States into World War II. Like all great timeless literature from the realm of combat -- the Funeral Oration of Pericles, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and McCrae's In Flanders Fields -- it is about ideals instead of ideology.

In 114 words, dated Sept. 3, 1941, he celebrated the sheer joy of flight. He could have had a scholarship to Yale in the fall of 1940 to study the classics; instead, that October he went to Canada. By then his father was assistant minister at St. John's Church in Washington, D.C., popularly known as "the church of the presidents." His parents hadn't been thrilled about his decision to fly instead of going to Yale, but they gave him their reluctant support.

The poem, written on the back page of one of his letters from England, may have been his explanation of "this is why I like to fly" to his parents. Having spent hours in the cockpit of many aicraft, from sailplanes to bush planes, and executive jets to a Flying Fortress, I understand the feeling. I can't say "share," because the single engine fighters of World War II created a brief era in flight that will never be repeated. Today's jets are pure power, simply point and go anywhere; World War I aircraft were sadly limited by a lack of power. Magee flew when the sheer joy of piston engine power matched but didn't eclipse the nerve and ability of a pilot's feelings, reactions, skills and dreams.

In only 28 pages, superbly illustrated by Toronto artist Michael Martchenko, Linda Granfield book tells how the spirit of a young man -- somewhat rebellious and undisciplined to start -- soared like the high flight he describes so memorably. I first found the poem when I was in the seventh grade, some 50 years ago, and memorized it as part of the 200 lines of memory work that were required every school year. It's the only poem from those years that stayed with me.

This book is the first account I've read that describe's Magee's background, and how the poem came to be written. In school, we were told it was "written on the back of an envelope." The real story, admirably told by Granfield, is more inspiring. Truth is always better than fantasy or imagination.

It's called a children's book. Don't be fooled. It's too good just for children. Anyone who understands the soaring adventure of the human spirit will love it. Magee made his dream come true. Very few of us get to live a more perfect life.

Great story, well written. Illustrates how much a human can REALLY do when you have the will.

I read this book after reading Jennifer Niven's book on the Karluk. I would recommend the same or at least having some knowledge of the Karluk tragedy before reading this book. The book is sparse in its introduction of the people and the situations involved, so having prior knowledge of these things is recommended. However, the personal account of the captain is wonderful. I was worried that Bartlett's own account might be difficult to read, but he was obviously a man of many talents including writing. The book reads quickly and is easy to understand - with the exception of a few seafaring terms which I had to look up. Highly recommended!

It's a great book because of it's extensiveness.

Great tutorial that helped me get a A on my final ezam. Amust have to review important concepts and terms.

Ken Babstock's Mean has all the punch you'd expect from a first book but much more of the polish. Check out his poem "What We Didn't Tell the Medic" about surviving a motorcycle crash, and keep an eye out for this promising young poet.

Ken Babstock is poetry reborn. Each piece has the readerpulled in like a voyeuristic bystander at a car crash. Absolutelyfabulous.