Reviews

The Joy of Not Working, 3rd Ed.

In the 1960s and 70s, young, middle-class North Americans got the message loud and clear: follow your hearts, do whatever you want, drop out, be happy. The children of post-war boom years, they were well ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Reference

Fishing for Brookies, Browns and Bows: The Old Guy’s Complete Guide to Catching Trout

By Gord Deval and Paul Quarrington

At casting demonstrations Gord Deval has been known to slice up a peeled banana at 40 feet with a well-aimed hook. This fact – and the prodigious amount of information in Fishing for Brookies, Browns ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Sports, Health & Self-help

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Mp3: Music on the Internet

By Rod Underhill and Nat Gertler

MP3 technology is revolutionizing the music business. Now, with the click of a mouse and a little expertise, listeners can download their favourite tunes from a cyberspace menu of thousands of songs and either listen ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Science, Technology & Environment

Exotic Dancers

By Gerald Lynch

On opening night at a strip club in the Troutstream Arms, a performer with the evocative name of Burnadette is nearly incinerated when her spectacular Joan of Arc routine goes awry. As the patrons gawk, ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Addicted: Notes from the Belly of the Beast

By Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, eds.

Many famous writers have been addicted to alcohol or drugs; the names of Malcolm Lowry, William S. Burroughs, Margaret Laurence, and Gwendolyn MacEwen come immediately to mind. But those who wrote about their addictions often ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Anthologies

Angel in the Sun: Turner’s Vision of History

By Gerald Hanley

War is not a picturesque scene. Yet J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), an eminent historical landscape painter of the romantic era, managed to draw beauty out of darkness without glorifying it. Scorched with symbolism and allegory, the ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Art, Music & Pop Culture

The Life: The Siren Song of Politics

By Steve Paikin

Journalist and television host Steve Paikin’s authorial debut, The Life, promises to shed light on the seductive call of Canadian politics, but underdelivers on this ambitious goal. Paikin uses the political lives of such Canadian ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Politics & Current Affairs

Mind Grenades: Manifestos from the Future

By John Plunkett, Louis Rossetto, eds.

BOOK DESIGN TODAY is driven by magazine design. Magazines, with their quick cycles and relatively low production costs, are highly responsive to design trends and consumer caprice. And they’re ephemeral – you can correct your ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs

Paul Martin: Ceo for Canada?

By Murray Dobbin

Canadians pondering the idea of Paul Martin as prime minister would do well to read Murray Dobbin’s incisive analysis of the man who, through his post as finance minister, has essentially been de facto prime ... Read More »

October 30, 2003 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs