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A short history of nearly everything
By Bill Bryson. 2004
This book is Bryson's quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization…
- how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. Bill Bryson's challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, like geology, chemistry and particle physics, and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. It's not so much about what we know, as about how we know what we know. How do we know what is in the centre of the Earth, or what a black hole is, or where the continents were 600 million years ago? How did anyone ever figure these things out? Some strong language. 2004.A good place to come from
By Morley Torgov. 1974
An account of life in a small town community in Sault Ste. Marie in the late 1930's and early 1940's.…
Winner of the 1975 Stephen Leacock Award for humour. Strong language. 1974.100 cigarettes and a bottle of vodka: a memoir
By Arthur Schaller. 1998
Arthur Schaller was eleven years old when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, a time when the reward for turning in…
a Jew was 100 cigarettes and a bottle of vodka. Separated from his family in the Warsaw Ghetto, Arthur managed to escape to the other side of the Ghetto wall, and posed until the end of the war as a Catholic orphan. Winner of the 1999 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. 1998.The private capital: ambition and love in the age of Macdonald and Laurier
By Sandra Gwyn. 1984
A compelling account of private life in the age of Macdonald and Laurier. The author has used personal letters, diaries,…
scrapbooks, memoirs and social columns. 1984 Governor General's Award winner. c1984.The mummy congress: science, obsession, and the everlasting dead
By Heather Anne Pringle. 2001
After covering a conference of mummy experts, science reporter Heather Pringle became so intrigued with mummies that she spent a…
year circling the globe, visiting leading scientists in the field. She also investigated preserved Italian saints, Scandinavian mummies in bogs, and frozen Inca princesses. Pringle researched Egyptian embalmers, the past public craze for mummy unwrappings, and the Russians' attempts to preserve Stalin, and along the way learned what mummies have to tell us about ourselves. Winner of the 2002 CNIB Torgi Award. 2001.Wow, Canada!: exploring this land from coast to coast to coast (Wow Canada! Ser.)
By Vivien Bowers. 1999
12-year-old Guy keeps a journal as he tours Canada with his parents and younger sister, Rachel. Learn about each province…
and territory, with information about major cities along the way, and other fun Canadian facts in sections like "According to Mom/Dad", "Exceedingly Weird", and "Food I Was Introduced to for My Own Good". Also included is "Guy's Family Car Trip Survival Tips". Grades 3-6. 1999.The sacred balance: rediscovering our place in nature
By David T Suzuki, Amanda McConnell. 1997
With a focus on the oceans and the water which maintains life, Suzuki discusses the need for environmental conservation. He…
argues that too much water, from global warming, or water too foul from pollution, results in the destruction of all life. Winner of the 1999 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. 1997.Ten well-planned major robberies reveal the ingenuity of the criminal mind, from Dan Cooper, who parachuted from a Boeing 727…
with $200,000, to the small band of Italians who stole the world-famous Mona Lisa. There are seven extra stories in the opening chapter, including that of the Parisian actor and civil servant who destroyed the files against his friends during the French Revolution - by eating them! Grades 5-8. Winner of the 2007 Red Maple Award. 2005.The year of magical thinking
By Joan Didion. 2005
Writer reflects on her emotional response to the unexpected death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, after a visit to…
their comatose daughter. Discusses the shock of suddenly facing a crisis, the memory of their time together as a family, and the meaning of marriage. National Book Award. Bestseller. 2005.With Borges
By Alberto Manguel. 2004
During the 1960s, Manguel, then a teenager, spent many evenings reading to Jorge Luis Borges, a giant of modern literature,…
because Borges had gradually become blind. As the author describes his visits to Borges in his dark, modest apartment, reading out loud and talking about books, we have a privileged look into the inner world of a literary legend, a window into the private life of one of the greatest authors of the twentieth century. Winner of the Prix du Livre en Poitou-Charentes 2003.Water: Why You Should Worry
By Marq De Villiers. 1999
Everybody needs it to survive, but very few people give it any thought. Water, one of the most plentiful natural…
resources in the world, has the power to give life and to take it away. De Villiers examines the numerous uses of water, the changes that have occurred in the Earth's water supply, the folklore and myths surrounding water, and the future of water as a natural resource. Winner of the 1999 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. 1999.The life and death of Adolf Hitler
By James Giblin. 2002
Biography of the German political leader whose racial prejudice and personal ambition shaped World War II. Traces Hitler's life and…
career from his birth in Austria in 1889 to his death in Berlin in 1945. Briefly discusses this tyrant's legacy. Some descriptions of violence. Grades 5-8 and older readers. Siebert Award. 2002.The most beautiful house in the world
By Witold Rybczynski. 1989
Rybczynski's project to build a workshed gradually evolved into a full-fledged house. As he recounts his tale, he considers the…
theories and work of such architects as Palladio and Frank Lloyd Wright, the elements of classical architecture, and the structural descendants of the humble barn. 1989.In Persephone anything can happen, and often does. The Township's history stretches back to before the birth of Canada, and…
is connected to such famous people as Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and the future King Edward VII. It has also been home to more shady characters. Winner of the 2003 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal. 2002.Willie, the life of W. Somerset Maugham: The Life Of W. Somerset Maugham
By Robert Calder. 1989
An examination of writer Maugham's homosexuality and unhappy marriage, his Victorian sense of propriety, his wanderlust, his verbal and financial…
generosity, and his turbulent relationship with his daughter. Winner of the 1989 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. 1989.Whirligig: selected prose and poetry
By Ernest Buckler. 1977
Vimy
By Pierre Berton. 1986
In 1917, the Canadian Corps seized and held the best-defended German bastion on the Western Front, a feat thought impossible…
by the British, French and German forces. The author believes they succeeded because the men were civilians, with flexible minds unfettered by military rules. Bestseller 1986. Winner of the 1987 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award.Village of the small houses: a memoir of sorts
By Ian Ferguson. 2003
Ferguson has crafted a delightfully idiosyncratic account of growing up in the North, where Fort Vermilion Alberta seemed as exotic…
as Australia or Mexico. The memorable cast of characters includes Lloyd Loonskin, Sixtoes Mitchell, Ellen "No Refunds" McTeer, and Ferguson's father Hank, a con man of consummate charm. 2003.Unnatural harvest: how corporate science is secretly altering our food
By Ingeborg Boyens. 1999
According to Boyens, in the first decades of the new millennium, the majority of our food will be the product…
of genetic engineering. She presents the implications of biotechnology, and illustrates the consequences this science may have for the environment, human and animal health, and the global food system. Winner of the National Business Book Award. 1999.Touch the dragon: a Thai journal
By Karen Connelly. 1992
Karen Connelly, 17 years old and bored with her life, was accepted by an exchange program which took her from…
Calgary to a small town in Thailand. She describes her assimilation into the Thai language and culture and her despair at leaving when the year came to an end. Winner of the 1993 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. 1992.