Book Review - Cheers! A History Of Beer In Canada

A couple of years ago I read a book by Nicholas Pashley called Notes on a Beer Mat and quite enjoyed it, so when he came out with his next book this year, Cheers, A History of Beer in Canada, I had to read it.

We like beer in Canada. We really, really like it. And it’s not just a fly-by-night, sordid little affair. We’re in it long term. We spend something like $8 billion a year on beer. From barley growers to label designers, more than 170,000 Canadians owe their full-time jobs directly or indirectly to beer. The rest of us just do what we can to help. 

In the long-awaited follow up to Notes on a Beermat, Pashley explores beer in Canada, covering many salient points, including chapters on 

Frere Ambroise, Who Started It All (Unless He Didn’ t) 
Us Against Them: Canadians and Our Neighbours to the South 
When Canadians Knew Squat: The Stubby in Our Lives Beer: 
Isn’t It Bad for You and Bad for the Planet? 
Ale or Lager? East Is East and West Isn’t 
Barkeep! Gimme Another Light Dry Low-Carb Ice Beer with No Aftertaste 
Are You a Beer Geek? (There’ s No Right Answer) 
The Future of Beer: Can I Afford to Drink Beer? (Can You Afford Not To?)

This is a fun humorous look at the history of beer in Canada and a look at the craft beer industry today. There are times that I felt Mr. Pashley tried too hard at his humour and missed the mark, plus I found the book as a whole a little long, but overall it was a fun read.

The last few chapters are about traveling across Canada to find out what the beer culture was in our major cities and a few smaller places. This was not as much fun as I thought it would be but I did like how in each city he would pick out the one bar or pub that he felt most at home in and would likely be his home pub if he lived there.

I learned a little from this book, plus it was fun. What more can a reader ask for?

Book Review - Our Man in Tehran, Ken Taylor, the CIA and the Iran Hostage crisis

The world watched with fear in November 1979, when Iranian students infiltrated and occupied the American embassy in Tehran. As the city exploded in a fury of revolution, few knew about the six American embassy staff who escaped into hiding. For three months, Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador to Iran—along with his wife and embassy staffers—concealed the Americans in their homes, terrified that Ayatollah Khomeini would find out and exact deadly consequences. 

Ken Taylor masterminded the exfiltration of the six diplomats from Tehran. Americans were held in thrall as Ted Koppel updated the nation on the fate of its hostages and the Canadians orchestrated an intrepid escape. Americans celebrated in the streets across the nation, raising banners that read “Thank you, Canada!” In Our Man in Tehran, Robert Wright, author of the award-winning national bestseller Three Nights in Havana, tells the story behind a major historical flashpoint, a story of cloak-and-dagger intrigue.

About a month ago I read the book Argo. Although some of the stories about past operations were fun and interesting, the story told by Tony Mendez, the author, was one where Mendez and the CIA take 100% of the credit for the rescue of the hostages.  I was appalled by the thought!

One positive thing that came out of reading that book was that I wanted to read a more balanced book about the entire hostage situation and I found it in Our Man in Tehran. The book is a well-written and pretty fast paced book starting with Ken Taylor's arrival in Tehran, just in time for the revolution, to the rescue of the hostages he and others helped shelter, to the final return of the hostages held at the U.S. Embassy.

The story of the CIA involvement and Argo is well told. It turns out that the CIA could not get a reliable source inside of Tehran so Taylor did their work for them. The method of moving the six diplomats out of Tehran was Taylor's idea. The CIA just came up with a cover story and some excellent forged documents. The operation was always controled by Taylor, who also held the ultimate control of veto to any part of the operation.

In Mendez's defence, the book, written before Argo, does explain that due to "compartmentalization" in the CIA Mendez did not know anything that our Canadians were doing to assist both Washington and the CIA. He likely did not even know about the invaluable assistance the New Zealand was for the "Canadian Caper".

Taylor and his staff are all heroes. This book highlights this.

It doesn't matter if you are Canadian or American, if you want a full, well-balanced account of the rescue effort and the entire hostage situation in Tehran for those 444 days in 1979-80, this is the book to read.

Forget the Argo book hogwash.

Book Review - A Nation Worth Ranting About

I am a big Rick Mercer fan.

I loved him in This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Made in Canada and have not missed an episode of The Rick Mercer Report on Tuesday nights. One of my favorite parts of the show is Rick's Rant, a feature which was always the very best part of This Hour has 22 Minutes.

So I was thrilled when he put out, A Nation Worth Ranting About.

An all-new collection of furiously funny rants from the most recent seasons of the Rick Mercer Report plus three brilliantly written, previously unpublished pieces by Rick. Illustrated throughout with photos and snatches of dialogue from Rick's encounters and exploits across Canada. 

 I found the rants as funny and insightful reading them, as I did when I first heard them as he did his fast walk along the alleyways of Toronto (that the cameraman never seems to stumble or fall while walking backwards shooting the piece, all done in a single shot is amazing). To me, his rants always ring true.

I especially like the chapter he wrote about meeting his all time hero, Rick Hanson, for the first time at top a bridge to do some bungee jumping. The story is hilarious!

The book is definitely worth reading. There's not a dull section in it!

Book Review - Mindscan by Robert J Sawyer

I have been reading a fair amount of non-fiction lately and it was time to get into a good piece of fiction. Make that science fiction.

Mindscan caught my eye.

Jake Sullivan watched his father, suffering from a rare condition, collapse and linger in a vegetative state, and he's incredibly paranoid because he inherited that condition. When mindscanning technology becomes available, he has himself scanned, which involves dispatching his biological body to the moon and assuming an android body. Sawyer's treatment of identity issues--of what copying consciousness may mean and how consciousness is defined--finds expression in a good story that is a new meditation on an old sf theme, the meaning of being human.

One word of warning if you are thinking about reading this book. Don't read the descriptions on the website of a book company's or library. Ignore the description on the book jacket. They all explain most of the plot of the story.

How dumb is that? Even dumber for a book like this. This is excellent science fiction with a very interesting story.

Mindscan is a new technology only affordable to the extremely rich. The mind is not transfered but copied into an artificial life form. The life form continues life on earth and will likely live forever, while the original body, known as a "shedskin", is sent to an ultra luxury resort to live out its final days.

The story is the complications that come along with that.

The concept got me to thinking if I could do it, would I have my brain copied to an android form? I would have to say no. It's not like my mind is transferred from my worn out body to a better form and I go on living life. Instead my copied mind, with all its (my) memories, habits, likes and dislikes carries on and lives its own life, while my original mind and body face the ultimate fate. Death.

This was an excellent read and I highly recommend it.

Just stay away from the spoilers provided by the same people trying to sell the book!

Book Review - Cooking with Beer: Favourites of Newfoundland and Labrador

I was looking for a recipe book with Newfoundland recipes and came upon this one, Cooking with Beer: Favourites of Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is full of recipes and, yes, each one has beer in it, from just a few ounces to a few cups.  So far I have tried three of them and two have been very good, with Teena wanting me to make them again in the future.  One was just OK. It was an onion marinaded in beer, then BBQed. I think the onion I used was too big so l can take the blame on that one. To me, it uses up too much beer for a side dish, so I would do that one again.

The other two, Eric`s Red Chicken Lyonaisse and the Roast Loin of Pork with Beer, that I made last night were superb!

The author, Gerry Crewe, a native of Newfoundland, was a chef and teacher until he retired. He was named Chef of the Year for Atlantic Canada in 2001 and the same year was also nominated for Canadian Chef of the Year. He was nominated and selected for the Teaching Award of Excellence for College of the North Atlantic in 2004.

He must be friends with the owners of Quidi Vidi Brewery as he has a short section on the history of that brewery and all his recipes ask for Quidi Vidi beer. As I can`t get that beer here, I use the same style of beer but a different brand.

One fault is that the book is not well edited. One recipe told to uncover the pan for the last 20 minutes but never said how long the meat should be in the oven to begin with. Another required 8 oz of beer, but the instructions never said when to use it. It was obvious when, but should have never been missed.

The recipes in the book cover drinks, appetizers, seafood, moose, beef, pork chicken and deserts. A good cookbook with lot`s of fun recipes to try.

Book Review - Full Frontal T.O.

Teena read Full Frontal T.O. and recommended it to me. Her review is here.

The Toronto streetscape: how it looks, lives and changes over time. 

Documented in over 1000 photographs. For over thirty years, Patrick Cummins has been wandering the streets of Toronto, taking mugshots of its houses, variety stores, garages and ever-changing storefronts. Straightforward shots chronicle the same buildings over the years, or travel the length of a block, facade by facade. Other sections collect vintage Coke signs on variety stores or garage graffiti. Unlike other architecture books, Full Frontal T.O. looks at buildings that typically go unexamined, creating a street-level visual history of Toronto. Full Frontal T.O. features over four hundred gorgeous photos of Toronto’s messy urbanism, with accompanying text by master urban explorer Shawn Micallef.

As the book is mostly pictures, it is a quick but very interesting read. I found it fascinating looking at how buildings have changed over 20 plus years. Patrick Cummings, the photographer, has great patience as he returns to shoot the same build from the same spot over a 24 year period.


I found the stores most interesting. Seems there are not many that stay in business over a 20 year period. To see the metamorphosis of these building is very fascinating. Here is just one example from the book which I found online. The building has not changed much but the priority of the company has over the 9 year period.

Shawn Miccallef provides some interesting insight into some of the pictures, especially the somewhat eerie description of Czehoski's on Queen St.

Mr Cummings also has a Full Frontal T.O. Blog which will be put on my blogroll for sure.

If you live in Toronto, you will find this book quite interesting.

Book Review - Tecumseh and Brock: The War of 1812

Back in June I went to a talk given by James Laxer on Tecumseh and Brock, two of my favorite and tragic historical people.

The talk was great. Laxer was informative and entertaining! Afterwards I purchased an autographed copy of his new book, Tecumseh and Brock: The War of 1812.

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the British Empire is engaged in a titanic war with Napoleonic France for global supremacy. The American Republic is quickly expanding its territory along the western frontier, while native peoples struggle to protect their lands from the relentless wave of new settlers. 

Bestselling author and scholar James Laxer offers a fresh and compelling view of this decisive war, by bringing to life two major contests: the native peoples' Endless War to establish nationhood and sovereignty on their traditional territories and the American campaign to settle its grievances with Britain through the conquest of Canada. At the heart of this story is the unlikely friendship and political alliance of Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief and charismatic leader of the native confederacy, and Major-General Isaac Brock, defender and protector of the British Crown. Together, these two towering figures secured what would become the nation of Canada.

The book started off quite interesting telling the background story of both Brock and Tecumseh. Tecumseh's dramatic meeting with William Henry Harrison, the Governor of Indiana at Vincennes, a meeting which came very close to a pitched battle. The incident was told well by Laxer.

Brock's meeting and the siege and taking of Detroit was also well told.

Laxer has a great weakness in describing battles. In fact, I was quite appalled by his description of events at the Battle of Queenston Heights where General Brock was killed in action. Not only did he give just an  abbreviated version of this very important battle but he had the order of events all wrong! In his version, he has Brock arriving after the cannon in the redan at the top of the heights by American forces with Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonell being fatally wounded in the retreat, then Brock being killed leading his forces in storming the heights.

Every version I have ever read, and I have read many, had Brock arriving, directing fire from the cannon in the redan before the American forces found a fisherman's trail up the side of the cliff and surprising Brock and his men who had to retreat down the slope. Brock then gathers his forces, and charges the position and was killed in the assault. The men retreat with their dead General and then Macdonell rallies the men and charges the heights again with the call "Avenge the general" and he is fatally wounded in the attempt.

How could he get this so wrong?

I sent him an email asking if he had received new information about the battle. After all, Teena and I discovered during a walking tour of the Battle of York that new information was uncovered concerning the order of events of the battle. Maybe that happened here. I did not receive a reply.

The story of Tecumseh's death in the Battle of the Thames also was far too short.

His telling of the Creek War in 1814 tied in nicely with Tecumseh's influence on the native tribes of the north and the south and gave me new information about the war, although I feel a need to double check the facts.

The book then falls off as he attempts to tie in the remaining battles of the war with the negotiations between the Americans and British at Ghent, Belgium to bring an end to the war. The British were demanding an Indian territory placed between the US and Canada, which would have taken up all of Ohio. This is what Tecumseh was seeking too. Obviously this did not happen in the Treaty of Ghent. I found it a little hard to get through.

This book is very uneven. It has some great strengths and some huge misses and misinformation. If you haven't yet read about the War of 1812, I would read others first before trying this one.

Book Review - Titanic, The Canadian Story

Teena just finished reading Titanic, The Canadian Story, and recommended it to me.

This is the untold saga of the 130 passengers aboard the ill-fated luxury liner who were bound for Canada. Author Alan Hustak began his research ten years before the blockbuster movie came out. He conducted interviews across Canada with direct descendants and relatives of Canadians who sailed on the Titanic's maiden voyage. In the process he unearthed historic photographs and stories which contribute another dimension to the familiar tale. Hustak's chronicles are more poignant than fiction, such as the tale of Quigg Baxter, the young Montreal hockey player who risked all to smuggle his Belgian fiancée aboard, the Fortune family from Winnipeg which failed to heed a clairvoyant's warning; and Harry Markland Molson, the richest Canadian aboard who was persuaded by Toronto millionaire Arthur Peuchen to extend his stay in England and sail home with him on the Titanic. Hustak discloses the scandalous behaviour of second class passenger Joseph Fynney and tells of the young honeymooners Bert and Vera Dick of Calgary who started an enduring legend about the disaster. Some books insist the Titanic's last victim, found in a lifeboat a month after the disaster, was from New Jersey; others say he was from Chicago. In fact he was Thomson Beattie of Winnipeg. These stories and others have been overlooked or ignored by American and British historians and enthusiasts who have written about the Titanic.

This was a very interesting read. I never knew there were so many Canadians aboard and like many others thought that Halifax, where the recovered bodies were taken, was the only Canadian connection. When the author Alan Hustak first started his research, he was told "Canadians didn't exist in 1912. They were all listed as British, so no one knew who the Canadians were."

Husak tells the story of the lives of many of the Canadian passengers, mostly first class, before their fateful voyage.  He does this in quick fashion during the 153 pages, so the book never bogs down. The tale continues to what occurred on board for these passengers while the ship sank and gives a short summary of many of the survivors lives after.

At the back of the book, he lists the names of all the Canadians and whether they were in first, second or third class. He puts in bold the names of those who did not survive and those that did survive, shows the date they died. The last Canadian survivor died on March 4, 1993. I found myself referring to this section often.

Some interesting statistics about the Canadians (I was too lazy to count this up on my own in the back section but found this on the CBC website)

Canadians in first class - 38
18 Drowned
3 Woman Drowned

Canadians in second class - 35
23 Drowned
1 Woman Drowned

Canadians in third Class - 57
48 Drowned
9 Women Drowned

I loved all the pictures and got a kick out of chapter 8, perhaps one of the shortest chapters I have ever read.

An interesting book that I would recommend too. Thanks, Teena!

Book Review - The Next One to Fall

I'm not usually one for mysteries but The Next One to Fall caught my eye for a couple of reasons.

First it is set in Peru with most of the story taking place at Machu Picchu or in Cusco, places that I visited back in 2001.

The second reason is that it is by a writer from Toronto, Hilary Davidson, who won the 2011 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and the Crimespree Award for Best First Mystery! She also was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada.

Travel writer Lily Moore has been persuaded by her closest friend, photographer Jesse Robb, to visit Peru with him. Jesse is convinced that the trip will lure Lily out of her dark mood, but Lily is haunted by betrayal and loss. At Machu Picchu, the famous Lost City of the Incas, they discover a woman clinging to life at the bottom of an ancient stone staircase. Just before the woman dies, she tells Lily the name of the man who pushed her.

When the local police investigate, the forensic evidence they find doesn't match what Lily knows. Unable to accept the official ruling of accidental death, Lily hunts down the wealthy man who was the dead woman's traveling companion and discovers a pattern of dead and missing women in his wake.

Obsessed with getting justice for these women, Lily sets in motion a violent chain of events that will have devastating consequences.

This was a well-done book for the most part. I could buy into how Lily Moore could be sucked into the chain of events that revolved around the death of the girl she found. I enjoyed how her character became stronger as the story went on and also found Jesse to be very likable.

What I didn't like was the ending. I found it a little farfetched and over the top. I found the ending quite disappointing. I hope Teena reads this to let me know what she thinks as it is a well-constructed mystery.

Book Review- Faces on Places: A Grotesque Tour of Toronto

Last month during Doors Open, Teena and I took part in the Faces on Places Walking Tour. Terry Murray led us around the city showing us the various gargoyles, faces and Griffins on buildings that I had never noticed before on places I walk by everyday. During the tour she was carrying a book with her. Turns out that it was one she wrote about this subject called naturally Faces on Places: A Grotesque Tour of Toronto.

Faces on Places takes us into the fascinating world of mythical and historical persons and icons that have been watching over Toronto and its inhabitants for centuries.

If you look up with author Terry Murray, you''ll see beyond glass and steel and stone to spy Gargoyles, Griffins, Dragons, Angels, Portraits of Important Personages (and Caricatures of those same folk). Murray has photographed over sixty Toronto buildings, interviewed architects, stone carvers, and building occupants, and scoured archives for original architectural plans, to discover who these creatures are, and why they exist.

Faces on Places is organized by type of sculpture, and contains street addresses and maps for suggested walking tours. It is an elegant and reliable guide to the city''s most silent and intriguing citizens

The book is an interesting read with many pictures. I like the way the book is organized into separate chapters for each kind of building feature, such as a chapter on gargoyles, one on faces, another on griffins. There is a map at the back showing where the various buildings are that she has written about. That will come in handy for Teena and I when we go searching for these on our own.

If you live in Toronto, this is a must read.

Book Review - Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter

When Carmen Aguirre was six, she and her family were among the many Chileans who fled to Canada as refugees from the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, which overthrew Chile's democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in 1973. Five years later, her mother decided to join the Chilean resistance movement in South America, and she moved back to Bolivia, bringing her Carmen and her younger sister along with her.

Something Fierce is Aguirre's memoir of growing up living a double life, torn between her dedication to the cause and a teenage girl's normal preoccupations of boys and pop music. There's both drama and humour in the stories of her harrowing adolescence and young adulthood. Something Fierce, which was published just last spring, has garnered rave reviews and been named to the longlist of the B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.

Something Fierce won the CBC 2012 Canada Reads annual literature competition. This is one thing that made me want to read it. The other is I have a bit of fascination with South America, its political instability, and the number of military coups that manage to overthrow the government.

The book is a very interesting read. The preview above mentions humour. I found none of that is this book. Carmen Aguirre is very open about her life growing up as a daughter of a mother in the underground resistance.

I found Aguirre's mother very unlikable. It very hard to conceive that a family barely escapes to Canada from Chile as refugees after Augusto Pinochet overthrew a democratic government by military force and the mother decides to take her 11- and 12-year-old daughters back into a dangerous, very deadly situation so she can work in the underground fro the revolution. Carmen's father, separated from her mother, stayed behind. So should have the children!

The thing I found most interesting is how Carmen and her younger sister went through the same trials, fear and paranoia, knowing their mother and stepfather could be caught, tortured and killed at any time, and ended up with completely different lives in the end.

Daily these two children were fed stories by their parents on how to explain their lives so the parents would not be caught. Their mother and stepdad would leave the two young teens alone in a strange city in the middle of political unrest and torture for days at a time with an explanation of what to do, the story to tell and who to contact if they did not return in a certain number of days.

I like what Carmen says in the Acknowledgements, "I am grateful to my sister, Ale, a very private person, for accepting the writing of this book, even if her version of the story is completely different."

Carmen thanks her mother for raising her the way she did. Now never myself having faced the kind of lives led by people who live under a brutal regime like Pinochet or to have to escape tyranny and torture, I have no idea how I would react. I do know if I was going to dedicate my life to fighting it, I sure as hell would want to know my kids were safe.

Carmen Aguirre now lives her life in Canada and is a Vancouver-based actress and writer.

This book would be an excellent read for a book club. There is so much in it to discuss.

Book Review - 1812, The Navy's War

I have read many books on the War of 1812 and now when I select a book, I try to find one concentrating on a certain aspect of the War. There really has not been a book which has focused strictly on the naval aspect of the War of 1812. Where much of the land war did not go well for the States, they had surprising success in their naval campaigns, so it is only natural that the subject be picked up by an American author.

1812, The Navy's War is written quite openly from the American point of view by author, George C. Daughan.

At the outbreak of the War of 1812, America's prospects looked dismal. It was clear that the primary battlefield would be the open ocean—but America's war fleet, only twenty ships strong, faced a practiced British navy of more than a thousand men-of-war. Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, the American navy managed to take the fight to the British and turn the tide of the war: on the Great Lakes, in the Atlantic, and even in the eastern Pacific. 


In 1812: The Navy's War, prizewinning historian George C. Daughan tells the thrilling story of how a handful of heroic captains and their stalwart crews overcame spectacular odds to lead the country to victory against the world's greatest imperial power. A stunning contribution to military and national history, 1812: The Navy's War is the first complete account in more than a century of how the U.S. Navy rescued the fledgling nation and secured America's future.


I learned much from this book that I had not understood before. Many of the early U.S. victories on the ocean was due to arrogant British Commanders, who had no respect for the upstart American navy, attacking ships of greater strength. What they didn't realize was that although the navy was new, it was well trained and the ships well manned. After taking a few losses, the British high command forbade its commanders from taking on the American ships in one on one battles.

Although well written, I found the author spent too much time describing the battles which took place on land. Just a brief overview of land operations was required so the reader would know how this affected what decisions were made by both sides in their naval operations on the Great Lakes and the ocean.

The author is also a little vocal in his opinion of some occurrences of the war. When American troops raided Port Dover, burning mills and homes, they were censured by their government. The author felt this was unwarranted, reminding the reader that British troops and Canadian militia burned the American side of the Niagara River, including Buffalo to the ground. Mr Daughan forgets that this was done in retaliation for U.S. troops throwing the residents of Newark (Niagara on the Lake) in the middle of a snowstorm and burning the town to the ground.

Mr. Daughan also has an issue with British troops burning Washington to get even with American troops burning York, the capital of Upper Canada. "The damage in no way compared to what happened in Washington later in the war, when the British commanders ordered all public buildings in a much larger capital burned." I guess he feels the British should have only burned the same number of buildings that were burned at York?

Still, this was an enjoyable and interesting book which I learned much from. A must read for any enthusiast of the War of 1812 or the history of naval conflict.

Book Review - To Stand and Fight Together

I have toured the battleground of Queenston Heights a few times and there is a plaque there that commemorates the "Coloured Corps" who fought in the battle.

I decided it was time to find out more about them.

In my search I could only find one book, To Stand and Fight Together, Richard Pierpoint and the Coloured Corps of Upper Canada.

In 1812, a 67-year-old black United Empire Loyalist named Richard Pierpoint helped raise "a corps of Coloured Men to stand and fight together" against the Americans who were threatening to invade the tiny British colony of Upper Canada.

Pierpoint''s unique fighting unit would not only see service throughout the War of 1812, it would also be the first colonial military unit reactiviated to quash the Rebellion of 1837. It would go on to serve as a police force, keeping the peace among the competing Irish immigrant gangs during the construction of the Welland Canal.

I gather that there was not much historical information out there about Richard Pierpoint and the Coloured Corp units but the author Steve Pitt did a great job of using every piece of information he could find to create a very interesting book.

The book starts with how the slave trade developed and functioned, then moved on to Richard Pierpoint and how he found freedom in Canada. When war came against the States, former slaves were anxious to fight, knowing that if Canada were defeated, they would find themselves slaves once again.

There also are great notes in the sidebars, explaining different background facts. I enjoyed them as much as the book. The book continues after the end of the War of 1812, and the death of Richard Pierpoint and follows the coloured corps through to the two World wars.

A very interesting book on a little known subject.

Book Review - The Cure for Everything! by Timothy Caulfield

Teena picks up many books on health and wellness, which I'll flip through, maybe read a chapter and be done with it.

With a title like The Cure for Everything!, I had to give take a look to see what exactly it was about:

Health-law expert Timothy Caulfield exposes the special interests that twist good science about health and fitness to sell us services and products that mostly don’t work.

Want great abs? You won’t get them by using the latest Ab-Flex-Spinner-Thingy. Are you trying to lose ten pounds? Diet books are a waste of trees. Do you rely on healthcare practitioners — either mainstream or alternative — to provide the cure for what ails you? Then beware! Both Big Pharma and naturopathy are powerful twisting forces with products and services to sell.

Caulfield doesn’t just talk the talk. He signs up for circuit training with a Hollywood trainer who cultivates the abs of the stars. With his own Food Advisory Team (FAT) made up of specialists in nutrition and diet, he makes a lifestyle change that really works. (Mainly it involves eating less than he is used to eating. Much less.) And when he embarks on a holiday cruise, dreading motion sickness, he takes along both a homeopathic and pharmaceutical remedy—with surprising results. This is a light-hearted book with a serious theme. Caulfield demonstrates that the truth about being healthy is easy to find (but often hard to do).

The book is a very interesting read. The first section, "Fitness: Smarter, Faster, Stronger", was the driest reading in the book, but the chapter I got the most out of. His research and review of training styles has me now doing High Intensity Interval Training.

In this chapter, he does try to discredit the value of stretching. He and other experts feel it is a waste of time and provides no value. I disagree completely with this view. For me, if I do not stretch, I do pull muscles, injure myself or create back pain. This, however, is the only part of the book I have an issue with.

The chapter on diet, was the most humorous and all very true. I like his statement that any fad diet will work as when you are on it, you are watching carefully what you eat. When the diet is done, though, the weight comes back. There is much revealing information in this chapter.

I found the section on genetics a little long but the chapter "Remedies: Big Pharma and the Colon Cleansers" gave me points to ponder.

The author, Timothy Caulfield, is a Canadian and is not afraid to throw in studies done by Canadian universities and councils. He also reveals many facts revealed in research done around the world. Mr Caufield is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy and a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. He was the Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta from 1993 to 2011 and is now leading the Faculty of Law’s newly formed Health Law and Science Policy Group.

It is an excellent book on personal health and fitness.

Book Review - Laura Ingersoll Secord: A Heroine and Her Family

This week I found a book about Laura Secord. I have read about her many times in histories of the War of 1812 but never an entire book dedicated to her brave act during the war and what happened in the years after.

Laura Ingersoll Secord: A Heroine and Her Family describes the life and family of Laura Secord (1775-1868). The transcriptions of petitions, early publicity and plaques of or about Laura, her husband James and their son Charles and from a British officer, James FitzGibbon - give insights into Secord family opportunities and their financial status.

Laura Ingersoll Secord performed an act of heroism, extraordinary and courageous espionage conducted by a woman in war-time from behind enemy lines. It took a sensitive Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, and later the Prince of Wales, to recognize Laura Secord's heroism and her contribution to the British war-time cause in 1813. Her bravery and exemplary life epitomize the way ordinary loyalists lived with strife on the Niagara Frontier in the early nineteenth century.

With American forces encamped in Queenston and American officers using the Secord House as a base, Laura and her husband overheard the officers planning a surprise attack on James FitzGibbon's small but effective force at Beaver Dams.

Fitzgibbon's small force, known as the Green Tigers, or my favorite, the Bloody Boys, waged guerrilla warfare on the American forces occupying the Niagara region. So effective was his operation the enemy forces could barely venture outside of the encampment or Fort George. An successful attack on them could and would seriously hamper the British/Canadian war effort.

Laura Secord, on the morning of June 22, 1813, set out to evade enemy patrols and fight through the wilderness to warn FitzGibbon. Instead of traveling in a straight 12 mile route, she instead did a circular 19 mile route in order to have an alibi of visiting different friends if caught.

I loved the part where she hoped her half brother would join her but was too sick so instead his daughter, Elizabeth, joined her. Elizabeth, though, became exhausted and could not continue.

In the end, Laura made it, warned FitzGibbon, who then set a successful trap for the attackers, capturing them lock, stock, and barrel.

I found it interesting that for many years the story was not told. The reason for this is the Secord's fear reprisals for many years after the war from Americans who lived across the Niagara River from them. The truth came out as the Secord's petitioned for jobs due to their effort during the conflict. In the end, the Prince of Wales found about about her act, publicly praising her contribution and awarding her 100 pounds, but that never came until 1860!

Author David Hemmings, who lives in Niagara on the Lake, wrote a very interesting book about a courageous woman who was one of the true, almost unsung heroes of the War of 1812.

Book Review - Flashforward by Robert J Sawyer

When I read the premise for the book, Flashforward, I knew it was a book that would be fascinating to read.

Two minutes and seventeen seconds that changed the world

Suddenly, without warning, all seven billion people on Earth black out for more than two minutes. Millions die as planes fall from the sky, people tumble down staircases, and cars plow into each other.

But that's the least of the survivors' challenges. During the blackout, everyone experienced a glimpse of what his or her future holds-and the interlocking mosaic of these visions threatens to unravel the present.

The idea sounded very familiar, though, and I had the book for a week before sitting down to start it. As I picked it up to finally start reading, I realized why it sounded so familiar. ABC had made a TV series based on it. I never watched it.

The book was a very interesting read. It is one case where being a fan of Star Trek paid off as I had heard about many of the theories about time travel discussed in the the old shows.

Lloyd Simcoe and Theo Procopides are two research physicists doing an experiment at the CERN Hadron Collider, which causes the entire world to black out for two minutes and seventeen seconds. Death and destruction ensue during the blackout.

Also most people witness two minutes and seventeen seconds of their own future, from their own viewpoint 30 years in the future. Eerie as many of the visions match with the visions of others.

Some, like Theo, experience nothing. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that those with no vision, did not experience one, as they would be dead. To make things even worse for Theo is he discovers that he was murdered just a day before that point in the future.

Is the future fixed? Can it be changed.

Theo sure hopes so, as do many others.

An excellent book with a very interesting storyline. I enjoy good science fiction and reading this makes me want to read more by Robert J Sawyer.

Book - Breakthrough by Thea Cooper

I am unsure where I spotted this book but as my son, Ken, came down with diabetes when he was 17, the subject of the discovery of insulin is interesting to me. Also it is a very Canadian story and a huge piece of our history.

Ask any Canadian who discovered insulin and they will tell you it was Banting and Best. Yet it was Fredrick Banting and Professor John Macleod from the University of Toronto who shared the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This always puzzled me and I was hoping this book would clear that up.

It is 1919, and Elizabeth Hughes, the 11-year-old daughter of America's most distinguished jurist and politician, Charles Evans Hughes, has been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. It is essentially a death sentence. The only accepted form of treatment—starvation—whittles her down to 45 pounds of skin and bones. Miles away, Canadian researchers Frederick Banting and Charles Best manage to identify and purify insulin from animal pancreases—a miracle soon marred by scientific jealousy, intense business competition, and fist fights. In a race against time and a ravaging disease, Elizabeth becomes one of the first diabetics to receive insulin injections—all while its discoverers and a little-known pharmaceutical company struggle to make it available to the rest of the world.

Relive the heartwarming true story of the discovery of insulin as it has never before been told, written with authentic detail and suspense, and featuring walk-ons by William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and Eli Lilly, among many others.

Breakthrough by Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsbergis a very interesting, well told story.

Although Leonard Thompson was the first person treated with insulin on January 11, 1922, when he was just 14, the book concentrates on Elizabeth Hughes who was among the first 10 or 20 patients to receive insulin and make a miraculous recovery. Her story is noteworthy for sure as she was the most famous, being the daughter of Charles Hughes who was the U.S. Secretary of State at the time. Some people even incorrectly credit her with being the first recipient of insulin.

I have always thought that the discovery of insulin was done in a spirit of harmony and determination. That sure was not the case. Banting had the idea and, along with Charles Best, did all the work in making the discovery. Macleod allowed the two to use one of his labs and gave a little funding money but no pay, and then left for a long vacation in Scotland. When Banting ran out of money, he sold his home and belongings to be able to fund his research. Only after the discovery was he put on the payroll.

Biochemist Bertram Collip also was instrumental in the work as once Banting and Best discovered how to draw insulin from a pancreas, it was Collip who was needed to find a way to purify the solution consistently for human consumption.

John Macleod put his name on the paper and, as a leading professor at the U of T, took part credit. Banting used to burn every time he heard Macleod use the term "we" and was enraged when he heard he had to share the Nobel Prize with Macleod.

How enraged?

He refused to go to the Nobel ceremony. In fact, not only would he not sit at the same table with Macleod, he would not even have his picture taken with him.

Banting shared his Nobel prize money with Best and Macleod shared his with Collip. Insulin was one of the biggest medical breakthroughs of the 20th century and certainly a high point for Canada but nowhere is there a picture of Banting, Best, Macleod and Collip together. The picture shown here is best on the left, with Banting on the right.

The story is not only about the discovery but also how Eli Lilly in the U.S. and Connaught Laboratories in Canada worked to mass produce insulin. Interesting how in 1922 there were less than 10 diabetics being treated and a year and a half later, 60,000 alone were being treated in Canada and the U.S. Eli Lilly's work is the hero in the early development and today sells $3 billion annually of insulin. Connaught Laboratories gave great contributions later on to make an insulin that works longer in the body.

I especially enjoyed the ending chapters telling the story of how every one's life continued after the discovery. Sadly Leonard Thompson, the first person to receive insulin, died 13 years later of diabetic complication. Many others who receive the first injections lived very long lives.

This is an interesting, well told story and a book worth reading.

Note: I found it interesting that in the U.S., the book is sold as Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle whereas in Canada it is sold as Breakthrough: Banting, Best and the Race to Save Millions of Diabetics. Easy to tell from which side of the border each is being sold.

Book Review - Shatner Rules: Your Guide To Understanding The Shatnerverse And The World At Large

I admit, I was a fan of the old original Star Trek series. William Shatner has been kidded for years for his acting in it but he has always survived in the world of show business.

At 80 years old, he keeps on going.

I have never read either of the 2 books he wrote previously about his life, Star Trek Memories or Up Till Now: The Autobiography, but this one, Shatner Rules, interested me.

"You love William Shatner.
You admire his many and varied talents.
You appreciate his creativity and willingness to take risks.
You want to learn his master negotiation techniques.
You wish you could hang out with him.
Admit it. You want to BE William Shatner.

And now...you can (almost).

This collection of rules, illustrated with stories from Bill's illustrious life and career, will show you how Bill became WILLIAM SHATNER, larger than life and bigger than any role he ever played. Shatner Rules is your guide to becoming William Shatner. Or more accurately, beautifully Shatneresque.

Because let's face it...Shatner does rule, doesn't he?"

It is a fun tongue-in-cheek book about the rules to live life as he has. He explains that there are two Shatners, the public, somewhat pompous one and the private one where he can truly be himself.

The book is full of antidotes and stories about his life, divided into the different rules to being Shatner such as "Rule: Always Have a Spare Set of Underwear on" or "Rule: Don't Trust the Facebook" (hilarious story).

Sometimes, many times, he wanders off topic. In sections, he is a little pompous but the book is very enjoyable.

The first chapter is "Rule: Say Yes". It was a funny chapter and a very true rule.

"Yes" means opportunity. "Yes" makes the dots in your life appear. And if you're willing and open, you can connect these dots. The lines you make with those dots always lead to interesting places. "No" closes doors. "Yes" kicks them right open.

He does show throughout the book how saying yes to questionable projects, (his first singing album) paid off for him in the future. It is also a funny chapter.

I also really enjoyed "Fourth Rule for Turning 80: Get Out of Bed". George Burns used to say the same thing. This is a more serious chapter about being 80 and how he is facing the fact of his own mortality. "When I woke up on my 80th birthday, I felt that life might be over soon. That was terrifying."

I also love how he is proudly Canadian throughout the book and devotes a full chapter to that "Rule: Remember Where you Came from ... Eh?" Another great chapter. Heck, they all are!

A fun easy to read book that I quite enjoyed. A must read for any fan!