BC Books From the Mainland/Southwest

Can Randi find a way to make it all work out?

Randi wants to be an actress and is excited about practicing her craft in drama class. So she is devastated to learn the program has been cut. When her friends put together a successful proposal to have drama class taught as an extracurricular activity, Randi is thrilled—until reality sinks in. Extracurriculars are scheduled after school, and after school, Randi is expected to take care of her brother, Toby, who is autistic. Will Randi have to choos …

A darkly mirthful and alphabetical approach to very bad things from comedian Charles Demers.

Comedian-author Charlie Demers, whose brain-bending brand of black humour will be familiar to followers of CBC Radio's The Debaters, offers his madcap perspective in a new collection of essays highlighting a wide range of topics under the heading of Bad Things. The Horrors is presented abecedarian-style, despoiling a beloved children's book tradition in order to explore personal hangups that range from th …

At long last, here is a book of critical thought that analyzes Arthur Erickson's best work and situates it as a distinctive body of ideas within the mainstream of international architecture in the last half of the twentieth century. Nicholas Olsberg draws on Erickson's own discussion of ideas to present a thoughtful and illuminating reassessment of his most important work. Ricardo Castro's photography captures essential passages of the works as they have matured into their settings. Archival pho …

An intimate portrait of the brilliant and controversial architect who put Canada on the world stage.

Arthur Erickson, Canada's pre-eminent philosopher-architect, was renowned for his innovative approach to landscape, his genius for spatial composition and his epic vision of architecture for people.

Erickson worked chiefly in concrete, which he called "the marble of our times," and wherever they appear, his buildings move the spirit with their poetic freshness and their mission to inspire. Travel w …

Psychotherapist Michael Pond is no stranger to the devastating consequences of alcoholism. He has helped hundreds of people conquer their addictions, but this knowledge did not prevent his own near-demise. In this riveting memoir, he recounts how he lost his practice, his home, and his family—all because of his drinking. After scores of visits to the ER, a tour of hellish recovery homes, a stint in intensive care for end-stage alcoholism, and jail, Pond devised his own personal plan for recover …

A harrowing, wry, and riveting account of a therapist's struggle with alcohol and his quest to find a better way of treating addiction

“With tactile intimacy and surgical wit, Pond invites us to share the tragedy of his addiction with a sad smile. And then reveals a singular truth about how people quit. Truly one of a kind . . . A masterful job of describing the indescribable”—Dr. Marc Lewis, neuroscientist and author of Memoirs of an Addicted Brain

Psychotherapist Mike Pond built a life he …

"Linda and I are fortunate to live near the western mountains of British Columbia, which contain some of the last wilderness areas in North America outside of the arctic. This is an area that supports grizzly bears and wolverines, where salmon run wild and the wolves and mountain goats roam through areas that have not changed since the arrival of Europeans to North America. This book is a look at those wilderness areas: their beauty, their essence, their soul."
--John Baldwin

In this modern world …

In this compelling tale, two very different stories intersect with surprising results. There's the story of two African children, Kalu and his cousin, Aisha, who escape from their village after it's destroyed by rebel soldiers. The kids flee to the coast where they find work on a fishing boat bound for Britain. They think they're safe, until the nervous fisherman leaves them with little food or water on Last Chance Island off the coast of Ireland. Meanwhile, Spike, a Canadian teen, finds out tha …