3 comments about Perfection of the Morning: A Woman's Awaking in Nature.

1. Some books are good because they tell a good story; some are good because they are funny; some present new and intriguing ideas; some are simply well written. Sharon Butala's Perfection of the Morning is good because it is uncompromisingly honest, and that alone gives it tremendous impact. She writes about her transformation from an urban, academic feminist when she marries a rancher, moves to rural Saskatchewan, and finds herself living among rural women in the midst of nature. It would have been easy for her to have either romanticized the rural life, or to have poked fun at the men and women in whose world she had come to live. She writes about what can best be described as spiritual experiences in nature, and she could have exaggerated them and couched them in "feminist" or "New Age" terms. Instead, she writes about her perceptions and reactions simply and clearly, without fanfare.
   
   She writes of her life on a ranch in the middle of virgin prairie grassland, her frustrations and her achievements, and her insights into her relations with her new neighbors, both human and non-human, domesticated and wild, animate and inanimate. The book is wonderful because she is careful to be truthful and clear about the changes she went through, not glossing over either her difficulties or her breakthroughs of understanding. She describes the lives of rural people who spend most of their time out of doors, and in particular, the lives of ranchers who spend many hours of every day in all kinds of weather with their animals on the prairie. She talks about how living in the midst of nature affects the way people think and feel, their awareness of the world around them and their relation to it. The book describes cultural differences which are so profound that it is difficult to explain them to those of us who have grown up in suburban and urban environments. And yet she succeeds in this gem of a book to make us crave the opportunity to experience the awareness she describes. It is a pity that so few of us will be able to do so.



2. The author claims that having left behind her urban comforts to live in rural Saskatchewan eventually put her closely in touch with nature. Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed with her version of 'in touch with nature'. I expected to read the words of someone who respects animals and wilderness. Instead I read about her views on mice as pests, how she and her husband made their living fattening cows before the slaughter, and her twisted comments about hunters having a greater capacity for pain and suffering than the animals they cruelly kill. Exploiting animals has clearly become an inherent part of her livelihood on the farm. She thinks nothing of attending rodeos where animals are wantonly abused, and she has no trouble inflicting pain on cows through branding without anesthetics. She describes environmentalists as mostly "urban" people who are only capable of fighting the corporate world and governments by attempting to put Nature in their own terms. (Huh?) She fails to realize that if us crazy "urban" environmentalist all moved out into the wilderness, there would be no wilderness left! (I for one am proud to live in the city, leaving wild areas free for the animals to roam.) The author also totally fails to acknowledge that an animal-based diet (which she and her husband directly rely on for their livelihood) is behind much of the mass-destruction of wilderness observed in the last century. I suppose I wouldn't have been so shocked reading this book had it not been advertised as "an apprenticeship in nature". I'd sooner see it called "a treatise in exploiting nature".



3. Sharon Butala has written a deeply personal book with universal application. She tells of her journey from a fulfilling but hectic urban life to one of isolation and introspection. She joins her new husband on a cattle ranch in southwest Saskatchewan and leaves behind her university teaching, her graduate studies, her support network of feminist friends, and her teenaged son. In her long, lonely hours of interaction with "Nature," she encounters the mysteries and messages of the natural world and experiences the gradual healing of her own wounds. As I read Butala's book I found myself stopping to write about my own pains, my own healing, and my own mysterious encounters with Nature. It was a journey we took together, and I am stronger for the experience.

1 comments about Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: The Epic Voyage of Captain George Vancouver.

1. Madness, Betrayal and the Lash is one of silliest books I have not managed to finish in a very long time. Hoping for a reasonably scholarly biography of George Vancouver, I found Sunday-supplement journalism, sensationalism, sloppy writing, and a smug attitude in no way justified by Mr. Bown's own attainments. The book breaks virtually every rule of good writing.
   
   The First Rule of good writing is Thou Shalt not Distract the Reader, and its corollary, Thou Shalt Stick to the Point. Alas, Mr. Bown peppers us with little judgments and smug asides which not only distract the reader, but cumulatively drive him to distraction. In one of very many examples, after quoting a perfectly clear passage from Vancouver's own writing, Bown gratuitously comments on "the stultified formal language of the era." Kenneth Clark once observed that it is one of the tragedies of Western Civilization that German never developed a good working prose. In the 18th century, English was doing just that; if Mr. Bown finds the precise use of a larger vocabulary than is common today, and the use of courtesy and some formality "stultifying,' why then, we must give him our sympathy, but such comments are simply not to the point. They only serve to distract the reader, as do references to scurvy as "a fashionable concern of eighteenth century physicians," to "trenchers of sloppy fermenting cabbage" (sauerkraut), "bobbing ships" which are "floating north" (apparently like rafts... ), and so on ad infinitum.
   
   A Rule of History Writing declares that Thou Shalt Not Make up Little Fictions - even to entertain the reader. Mr. Bown however, feels that we must be constantly enlivened by bright little insertions such as this gem: "... Balboa, who in 1513, after crossing the Isthmus of Panama, boldly strode into the surf, allowed his wandering gaze to search the horizon south and north, and promptly claimed it all for Spain." This may set some quantity of barren readers on to smirk, but the judicious reader will wonder how Mr. Bown knows that Balboa had a wandering gaze, where he directed it, or how he managed to keep his footing in the surf. Elsewhere we wonder at the King awarding Cook a "royal [?] coat of arms," or know that Martinez "drew his sword and waved it imperiously towards the trees and the hills [how does one wave a sword imperiously?] when claiming Nootka Sound
   
   Likewise, those who write history are supposed to refrain from trivial editorializing. And yet we read about the "whimsical Banks" Sir Joseph Banks was an untiring botanist who accompanied Cook on his first voyage and was for very many years an extremely useful and helpful president of the Royal Society - a body not known for its whimsy. (Bown also refers to Sir Joseph as a lord, which he was not.) We pass by references to Cook "smugly answering his critics," or Banks as "arrogant," which he wasn't, and "rich" which he was, as typical further editorial irrelevancies.
   
   Equally annoying, Mr. Bown constantly makes gasping reference to bad food, brutal conditions, and as the title of this little book implies, wallows in contemplation of the lash and other popular horrors. In fact, the Navy, at the time of Vancouver, provided many seaman with more, and more regular food than they would have received on shore, and in a period of brutal punishments everywhere, naval discipline was not outstandingly severe, though a few captains such as the repellant and probably insane Piggot, were brutal indeed. But this was not encouraged by the Navy, which was probably the most democratic institution of its time, as shown when Cook, in Bown's own words, "challenged and triumphed over England's rigid caste system,"
   
   Worst of all is Bown's habit of contradicting himself. He observes that Cook rose in rank from obscure origins, but then stuns us with "It was impossible for a regular, able-bodied sailor or non-commissioned officer to cross to the quarter deck" and then refers to the ship's Master, who "had begun his career two decades earlier as an able seaman" (as did Cook).
   
   Bown informs us that, as a junior Lieutenant in the Caribbean Vancouver "learned the skills of a more senior officer such as navigating, taking the wheel on watch [senior officers did not take the wheel] and striving to keep his ship in the close formation of the fleet [although Bown makes it clear that there was not a fleet in the Caribbean at the time]". Bown later states that "Having sailed with Cook... Vancouver had an uncommon set of skills in navigation and hydrography." Where then, did Vancouver learn his navigation skills? Earlier, as a volunteer and midshipman with Cook? Or later in the Caribbean as a lieutenant (though no one would ever have passed for lieutenant if he had not already mastered these basic skills)?
   
   A sad, silly book, then. A good, up-to-date, adult biography of Vancouver is badly needed, the last one being Bern Anderson's Life and Voyages of Captain George Vancouver ,published in Seattle in 1960. Sadly, Madness, Betrayal and the Lash, as the grocery store checkout title should have warned us, is not that book. I could not finish it. This one goes straight to the recycle bin.

1 comments about The Old Man Told Us.

1. Well oreganized and easy to read. Being of micmac heritage, I was able to really enjoy the old stories and visit the old places and hear the old voices. Excellant research efforts by authors. This is one of those books I plan on passing along to my kids! Lionel Little Eagle 3/1/99

1 comments about Soapy Smith (Amazing Stories) (Amazing Stories).

1. I have always been curious about the preposterous stories of the Klondike gold rush. This wild period in history features gold fever lunacy -- a desperate stampede -- boom-town lawlessness -- wilderness hardships -- gambling -- hard work -- hard drinking -- hard women -- and shattered dreams -- all the ingredients for some light adventure reading.
   
   You will be introduced to colorful gang members: Old Man Triplett, Fatty Gray, Canada Bill, Doc Baggs, Slim Jim Foster, Reverend Bowers, and Red Gibbs. Of all the determined characters of that frantic period, their leader, Soapy Smith is the most engrossing.
   
   Stan Sauerwein is the author of Amazing Stories' "Soapy Smith: Skagway's Scourge of the Klondike", the entertaining biography of this legendary boomtown crime boss.
   
   Jefferson Randolph Smith Jr. as a teenager tried his hand in a cattle drive to Abilene, Kansas, where he acquired a life long taste for cards, liquor, and loose women.
   
   Once back in San Antonio, Smith was soon cleaned out by Clubfoot Hall, playing the shell game. Smith was hooked and begged Hall to teach him all he knew. Smith was sent to Leadville, Colorado to learn under the master: V. Bullock "Old Man" Taylor. It was in Leadville, Smith first saw the infamous soap bar game, and fell in love with it.
   
   Soapy moved through the west, building his gang and adding new scams.
   
   Hearing about the gold strikes in the Klondike, Soapy and six members of his gang sailed to Skagway, Alaska -- the jumping off point to the gold fields. Here, Soapy quickly set about fleecing the thousands of stampeders pouring into Skagway.
   
   He first opened a high class bar with gambling in the cozy back room -- customers routinely were robbed on their way to the outhouse, behind the building.
   
   Soapy's gang operated numerous phony businesses such as barber shops, information booths, map sales, a freight line, phony US Army recruiting center, and weather forecasting, all with one purpose -- size up the suckers and rob them blind.
   
   At the height of the gold rush, Soapy hit upon the idea of a phony telegraph station in Skagway. "For only five dollars for 10 words, every stampeder could send home news of this safe arrival." Often the miners received urgent pleas from the miner's families back home for money (actually sent by Soapy's gang). "Soapy's men, of course, accepted the miner's money for transfer -- not back home, but directly to Soapy's strongbox", relates Mr. Sauerwein.
   
   Soapy had always limited his targets to new comers -- never preying on the locals. Soapy explained that robbing newcomers was really a community service by preventing amateurs from being stranded in the wilderness. Soapy sometimes paid their passage back home -- mainly to get rid of complaining victims and to make room for new suckers.
   
   In "One Poke Too Many", the reader will find out the ultimate fate of Soapy Smith.
   
   Mr. Sauerwein tells his story in a clear, informal, entertaining style complete with dialog that brings a stage play feel to his tale.
   
   The book contains ten chapters covering 131 pages and four interesting pictures.

No comments about Dutch Schultz: The Brazen Beer Baron of New York (Amazing Stories).

2 comments about Moe Norman: The Canadian Golfing Legend with the Perfect Swing (Amazing Stories).

1. This is the tale of Moe Norman, one of golf's greatest, but probably least well known heroes. Born into poverty, he used the extra time he had to turn himself into the greatest ball striker ever known. Overcoming financial problems, numerous brushes with the RCGA and other ruling bodies, he carved a place out for himself in golf history, and is now one of its immortal figures.
   
   This book is geared mostly towards adolescent readers with a general interest in sports greats, preferably with a rudamentary understanding of golf. It will not satisfy the golf fan, though, as so much that was unique about Norman's game is not discussed. Many of the tales that surround him, such as the exhibition with Snead in which Norman launched a drive and rolled it over a bridge rather than lay up in front of a creek, are noted, but some of his greatest feats are left out. Many of those, such as being told by his caddy that a hole was a driver and a wedge to the green and Norman playing a wedge from the tee and a driver from the fairway, probably will be lost on non-golfers.
   
   For a simple read into Moe Norman's life, this book more than fits the bill, but it treads too carefully. His problems with tournament organizers and golf's ruling bodies sets the plot, but that plot is very much a "disadvantage person carving his own way" sort of story, and not the tale of bravado golfers have come to expect regarding the greats. Good reading for a summer book report, but lacking for serious golf readers.



2. The reknowned author,Stan Sauerwein has written a great biography of a brilliant golfer,Moe Norman.He rules!!

No comments about Trail to the Interior (Rm Patterson Collection).

1 comments about A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar.

1. General H.D.G. Crerar is one of Canada's greatest military heroes of the twentieth century, and sadly too often overlooked as a choice for military autobiography reading lists. "A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of H.D.G. Crerar" is the story of this underrated figure in twentieth century military history. The controversial general is examined in and out through this history, including his views on using the Canadian military as a symbol of the Canadian identity and its civic responsibility, and the role of the Canadian military on the world stage. Highly recommended for Canadian military historians, and community library military history shelves in general.

1 comments about The Words and Music of Neil Young (The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection).

1. A legend in the field of music for over four decades. "The Words and Music of Neil Young" is a complete and comprehensive examination of the times and life of the artist. Chronicling his life album by album, "The Words and Music of Neil Young" covers all of the artist's popular and unpopular moves as a solo artist or part of his many groups over the years. Enhanced with a discography and extensive bibliography, "The Words and Music of Neil Young" is highly recommended to community library music collections and fans of the man in general.

No comments about John Franklin: Traveller on Undiscovered Seas (The Quest Library).