Books we're reading

The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture offers, it says, the most outstanding works of architecture built since 1998 from all over the world. At $225, this is no impulse purchase, but boy-oh-boy what a treasure it is for the lucky owner. (It’s sitting there at Duthies at 2139 West 4th Ave.) Perhaps a reference copy can be opened at the entrance to the City of Vancouver zoning office, just so councillors, the mayor, planners, builders, architects, and designers can all be reminded what is possible. The huge (20 pounds maybe) book also comes inside a fascinating plastic suitcase that allows you to browse it without damaging the binding.
 
 
Vivian Birch-Jones, along with a whole bunch of others from up around Lillooet, have produced a gem in their Canyon to Alpine Lillooet Hiking Guide, published by the Lillooet Naturalist Society. It’s a great guide, with plenty of pictures, and each trail’s difficulty is rated, its hike time is listed, and the elevation gain is indicated. It’s only four hours away from Vancouver, but listen to the disclaimer: “Hiking in the Lillooet area can be dangerous. There are many potential hazards. The terrain is severe and the climate harsh. The geology is steep, mountainous and prone to erosion. Temperatures can vary 20 degrees between the river bottom and exposed mountaintops. Hypothermia and dehydration are serious concerns. Assistance can take a long time to arrive.” Bring it on!, as city folk like me like to say.
 
 
Eye Opener Bob: The Story of Bob Edwards, by Grant MacEwan, was published in 1957 by the Institute of Applied Art in Edmonton, and it is found at the public library just as soon as I’m done laughing my head off. Bob Edwards launched the Calgary Eye Opener, a “semi-occasional” and fiercely independent newspaper that at one time in the 1910s had the largest circulation of any paper between Toronto and Vancouver. When there wasn’t news enough to fill his pages, he made it up—but he never strayed so far from the truth that his readers didn’t desperately try guessing who was the centre of the new scandal he had uncovered. He broke every rule of journalism—and only got more readers and influence in Calgary, to the point where those vying to be elected mayor had to wonder first whether the Eye Opener would endorse them or not. No doubt The Republic will be influenced by this book. It may already be . . . .