You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Billy Proctor, resident legend of Echo Bay, BC, recounts almost a century’s worth of experience with this collection of stories, memories and local knowledge of the central BC coast region around Blackfish Sound. Situated in the beautiful Broughton Archipelago between northern Vancouver Island and the mainland coast, this region boasts a history and culture as engaging as its stunning locale—and nobody tells its story quite like Proctor. A lifelong fisherman, trapper, logger and, in later life, author, Proctor learned from both the indigenous Kwakwaka’wakw people and the settlers who came to live in Blackfish Sound. Along with his entertaining tales of the surrounding communities, Proc...
Originally published in 1998, this updated edition has a brand-new cover and interior design, with a new foreword by Alexandra Morton. Billy Proctor was born in 1934 and has spent his entire life in a remote coastal community called Echo Bay, BC on an island off northern Vancouver Island. Proctor has always done the time-honoured work of generations of upcoast men—hand-logging, fishing, clam digging, repairing boats, beachcombing. But Billy eventually began to notice that the thriving runs of Pacific salmon, oolichans, and herring that he remembers from his early years were vanishing—some to near extinction—and he understood that it was time to take action. Heart of the Raincoast is the fascinating story of Billy Proctor’s life, and the wealth of knowledge and understanding that can only be gained from living in such close proximity to nature. The writing is funny, touching and honest—and offers an engaging insider’s view not only of the salmon, whales, eagles and independent people who populate Canada’s wild and lovely coastal rainforest, but on what we need to do to keep it as nature intended.
In the early 1980s, Yvonne Maximchuk, a single mother of two, was living in Whiterock, BC, and making a living as a working artist and art instructor. Then she fell in love with Albert, a crab fisherman who fished the waters of Boundary Bay. Drawn to his seemingly idyllic life and her desire for connection with the natural world, Yvonne and her children moved with Albert to Echo Bay, a tiny settlement east of Vancouver Island. Life in this remote community was a lot different from life in the city: there was no running water and electricity had to be generated. The closest grocery store was two hours away by boat, and even a small emergency could be life threatening. But in spite of the chal...
Ebb and Flow was named one of 2007’s "best science books" by Peter Calamai, science editor of the Toronto Star [Dec. 30, 2007]. He calls it a "wonderful resource book. Tom Koppel seems to have visited or read about every place with unusual tides and water currents, yet he wears this scholarship lightly." Tides have shaped our world. They have carved out shorelines, transformed early life on Earth, and altered the course of human civilization. Tides frustrated Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, and aided General MacArthur. They govern the way our planet moves, provide us with an alternative source of energy, and may be aggravating global climate change. Drawing on science, history, and personal memories, Koppel’s fascinating book engages and enlightens, demonstrating that a subject we take for granted affects all our lives. He weaves together three grand narratives, exploring how tides impact coasts and marine life, how they have altered human history and development, and how science has striven to understand the surprisingly complex way in which tides actually work.
Long Reach is a mystery of action and adventure with an unexpected twist. Is Nora guilty of pushing her husband overboard in a fit of violent anger? Or is she a victim in an environmental conspiracy? On a fishing trip in the beautiful waters of the Georgia Strait, British Columbia, Canada, Nora is accused of attempting to murder Joe, her husband and partner of thirty years. Fearing her anger caused the incident, Nora strives to find out if she is guilty or innocent. In the search for truth, thugs shoot at Nora, she is kidnapped, jailed and tried in court for manslaughter and other crimes. With the help of a First Nation Mountie and a First Nation healer, can Nora prove her innocence and expose conspirators responsible for air, water, and land pollution and stealing rights from First Nation tribes?
WAS IT REALLY MURDER? Big crime comes to a town too small to merit even that title. Residents of the loose-knit coastal community of Echo Bay struggle with the same issues as the world at large: drugs, mental health, racial friction, sexism, you name it. But everyone signs on to the code: whether you like them or not, you always help someone in need. When local prawn checker Tim Connolly doesn't show up for a dinner date with his girlfriend Kit Sampson no one is too concerned. But when a body is found washed up on an islet by young boaters, the discovery fragments the residents into a tumult of distrust and suspicion. And then the RCMP come calling. Far from the structures created to monitor...
"Cathy Converse has given us a welcome commentary on Capi Blanchet and her world, one that enriches our understanding of both." —The Tyee A paperback edition of the BC Book Award–nominated biography of Capi Blanchet, the author of the BC coastal classic, The Curve of Time. After her husband died in 1926 from a suspected drowning, Capi Blanchet spent every summer cruising BC’s west coast with her five children and their dog in the family’s 25-foot boat. The Curve of Time is the book Capi wrote chronicling these adventures, and it remains a bestseller and a classic in the annals of nautical literature. But little is known about the rest of her life. Cathy Converse found herself asking: who was this skipper, this mother, this writer? In this biography, Converse offers insiders' recollections of this enigmatic woman, along with family photos and updated information about the villages, inlets and islands described in The Curve of Time. Following the Curve of Time is essential reading for anyone who has ever been captivated by the book, the West Coast or Capi herself.
A frank, practical, and entertaining exploration of the pleasures and complexities of living on small islands. Many people dream of living simple lives on small islands, but few are aware of some of the unique challenges that accompany this distinctive lifestyle. From negotiating surrounding waters to creating a sustainable home and making a viable life away from urban conveniences, small-island living can be rewarding or difficult (or both), depending on myriad circumstances. Complicated Simplicity: Island Life in the Pacific Northwest draws on a variety sources to contextualize peoples' enduring fascination with islands worldwide, including the author's own experiences growing up on Bath I...
For many years, archaeologists were unaware of the ancient clam terraces at Waiatt Bay, on Quadra Island. Author Judith Williams knew no differently until she was advised of their existence by a Klahoose elder named Elizabeth Harry (Keekus). By liaising with other observers of clam gardens in the Broughton Archipelago and conducting her own survey of Waiatt Bay and Gorge Harbour on Cortes Island, Williams has amassed evidence that the rock structures seen only at the lowest tides were used by native peoples for the purpose of cultivating butter clams. Her research does much to challenge the notion of pre-contact West Coast indigenous peoples and hunters-gatherers alone. The clam gardens whose existence she reveals here might also be unique in the world. Clam Gardens: Aboriginal Mariculture on Canada's West Coast is Number 15 in the Transmontanus series of books edited by Terry Glavin.
Now available in paperback, Bijaboji is a BC bestseller and a classic of boating literature.