No comments about A Passion for Mountains: The Lives of Don and Phyllis Munday.

No comments about Deny, Deny, Deny (Second Edition): The Rise and Fall of Colin Thatcher.

No comments about Pierre-Esprit Radisson: Merchant Adventurer, 1636-1701.

No comments about Lord Stanley: The Man Behind the Cup.

2 comments about Songs of the North (Classic, Nature, Penguin).

1. The description says the book is only 28 pages. This is either a misprint or a shortened version. It should be over 200 pages.
   
   "It was inconceivable anyone would travel this way for pleasure"
   
   Howard Mosher has selected 20 articles and assays from scores written by Sigurd Olson; wonderful introduction by Mosher.
   
   Olson taught at UW Wisconsin. He then moved to Ely, Minnesota and became Dean at Ely College. He started canoeing the wilderness of the Quetico-Superior territory in the 20's, later becoming a guide. Further on in his life he became a consultant and activist for various institutions. Sigurd read veraciously, such authors as: Thoreau, Whitman, Hemingway, Drummond, Thompson, and Mackenzie. These men helped influence his writings, and I recommend them highly.
   
   This book and others like it are particularly dear to my heart, for I have spent countless days in the wilderness of Canada's Quetico Park. I can relate to the spiritual peace that one finds unique only to the Quetico-Boundry Waters area. It is also a test of ones physical and mental self. I wish all could make a trip to this remote land, it changes ones life.
   
   Olson tells us of the hardships of these past voyageurs: the portages, the long paddles, the equipment used, the elements, the ghost camps. Beautiful observations: the wildlife, the drawing toward the wilderness, the humor, the scattered Indian tribes, the nuances we miss or never thought of in quite that way.
   
   "No country can ever be bleak or forbidding if it has once been a part of the love and warmth of those who have shared it with you."
   
   Wish you well
   Scott



2. For those who wish to explore the wonderful prose, thoughts and observations offered by this pioneering outdoorsman, I will highly recommend this book. Bringing together essay samples from a number of his books, the reader will enjoy the insights Olson offers as he journeys through America's wilderness. He provides a writing style that is comfortable to read and his words will transport you from your chair into the canoe with him as he paddles/camps his way through places many of us can only hope to go. It takes a chapter or two to recognize that Olson doesn't write with one chapter flowing into the next, but rather each chapter is a story in itself. And, with that understood, sit back, read and enjoy the trip(s)!

No comments about Air Aces: The Lives and Times of Twelve Canadian Fighter Pilots.

No comments about Another River to Cross.

1 comments about Crazy Man's Creek.

1. Jack Boudreau grew up in the central BC lumber town of Penny, which is located along the Canadian National Railway line that runs through the Fraser valley in central B.C. He was regaled as a youth with stories of the guides, trappers, settlers, prospectors and others who tried to make this inhospitable wilderness their home during the beginning of the twentieth century. He decided that these stories were too valuable to let disappear with the passing of the original taletellers and began to record their stories. After several decades of collecting data from/about these individuals, Jack has done an excellent job of consolidating the best of their stories in this pleasurably readable collection. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in outdoor adventures. The wondrous thing is that the stories are true and these robust individuals actually went through trials that the contemporary reader might find incredible.

   I may be a biased reviewer in that, J. Boudreau is my mother's brother and I also grew up listening to a few of the tales depicted in this book. I can guarantee that once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down until it's finished. In my case, I read it several times. This book is worth every penny and will bring you much pleasure.

2 comments about The Dionnes.

1. The true story of the Dionne Quints, and how their life was not a story-book one as painted by the media and the Canadian government. What these women went through is tragic.

   A book to finally set the record straight!




2. Tescher's interest is not the happy-go-lucky little girls that adorned newspapers and goods in the 1930s but the adult Dionnes, ill-equipped to function in the real world. Until their recent financial settlement with the Ontario government they knew terrible poverty and have been marked their entire lives by their famous birth. An unusual angle to a fascinating subject.

No comments about Rabbis and Their Community: Studies in the Eastern European Orthodox Rabbinate in Montreal, 1896û1930.