Columbia Reviews

There isn't really much that one can say about this book anymnore, other than it is an interesting artifact of one man's attempt to grab the reins of power in British Columbia.

By itself "A Civilized Revolution" is not an entirely bad book. It was published as the election platform of the Progressive Democratic Alliance prior to the 1996 provincial election. Basically the PDA was a one-man party consisting of Gordon Wilson, the ex-leader of the BC Liberal party. This PDA book thus focuses on all of Wilson's strong suits. There is a chapter on BC's options in the event of the break-up of the country (remember that this book was written less than a year after the Quebec referendum on soverignty) inspired, I suspect, by Wilson's work as the "special constitutional advisor" to then premier Glen Clark. Also, having been a college professor with a Master's degree in geography in a past life there is a chapter on sustainable development. As well, there is a futher chapter on an area Wilson is particularily knowledgeable - and that is First Nations issues in this province.

Overall, the book does not have much else to offer a reader interested in BC politics. Wilson was the only member of the PDA elected in 1996 and was to eventually abandon the party in 1999 to take a cabinet position with the governing NDP party - the party he was running strongly against in 1996. The fact that he has since towed the party line on all major issues and not pushed for the adoption of anything outlined in "A Civilized Revolution" may be indicative of his commitment to power over good policy!

If anyone is truly interested in the impact that this book had in BC, one should search the archives of the Vancouver Sun newspaper to see the controversy that was stirred up by the biographical intoridcution. Raised by Vaughn Palmer (a Sun editorialist) during the NDP leadership campaign, of which Wilson was a candidate, the intro's validity came under strong criticism for placing Wilson at almost every defining moment of the 1960s such as Martin Luther King's speech in Washington, the Mau-Mau uprisinig in Africa to Woodstock. This all led to Wilson being held up to a lot of ridicule in the press at a time when he was seeking support for his bid to lead his third political party in less than 7 years (and to finally become the premier of the province).

I never did like Don and Roberta Lowe's hiking guides, but when I moved to Portland in 1977, they were they only game in town and I bought them all. This volume has a different format from all their others, which was more typical of hiking guides, containing a single, black and white photograph of a scene along each hike. This guide is larger format and loaded with sharp, well-printed color photographs. I know these hikes like the back of my hand, and their choice of photos is as mediocre as their text. They claim this is more a picture book than a hiking guide, but in fact the text for each hike follows their old plan of basically describing no more than what you can see on a good topo map. There is no "hype" in this book, oh, perhaps a few words at the beginning of each hike, but I always enjoy a little enthusiasm in my hiking guides and more descriptions of sights along the way. There are big disappointments. For example, they basically stop describing what Herman Creek Trail is like up to the Casey Creek Trail. But that's just where the going gets good, entering one of the most magnificent stretches of low elevation old growth in the Columbia Gorge. They don't even mention the climax at Cedar Swamp 7 miles in: a rare and awesome grove of enormous Western Red Cedars, one of the great treasures on this planet (so few of them remain). Then in the description of Eagle Creek, they don't even mention the horsetail falls just above Tunnel Falls, which for my money is a far more beautiful sight. I've always found Tunnel Falls rather harsh and forbidding. The unnamed horsetail falls just a quarter mile beyond is a gloriously graceful and awesome waterfalls, and it is almost sacreligious that they don't even mention it.

I seem to recall from one of their books written over 25 years ago that they want you to be surprised, and so may deliberately not describe the major highlights of a hike (besides trail junctions, which is about the only thing they talk about). This is a mistake. Mere words can't possibly give away the true magnificence of these hikes, so no matter how eloquent they might be at describing a particular attraction, there's no excuse for not going and seeing it for yourself. I keep going back to the same trails because the sights are so awesomely beautiful that my brain can't possibly retain the experience of actually being there, and I am forever surprised by the same sights year after year. So, please, hiking book writers, don't be shy about waxing ecstatic over outstanding features of a hike! Give us some incentive to go to these places! I can buy a map to see the trail junctions. I don't need what is in effect little more than a description of a map.

this book can not satisfy you ..you must go to the text books to understand..but give you an idea about the topics neaded for DAT

The publishers description says it all. If you're looking for specifics on fishing BC rivers, (locations, flies, lodging) this isn't for you - it's mostly stories and recollections

This "guide" reads more like an overview of the angling possibilities in BC. Not enough specific information about a lot of bodies of water. There are also some poorly written (and edited!) essays that I would have rather seen replaced with more details and or more rivers. To sum up, it's not very comprehensive and if you're looking for specific info on a particular river, you may be disappointed.

I used this book for a paper and the most useful part was the pictures. Most of the information was dull and dry with little scientific insight.

The parts of the book that did seek to come to a conclusion came to a conclusion that was and is highly contested. But the book never sought to adequately represent the other side.

We just returned from a trip to BC where we used this book in conjunction with others. Some of the information is useful, but time and time again we were disappointed, especially in the area of lodging. Several B&Bs and Lodges that were given very positive reviews were either very ordinary, motelish or were just plain dreadful. There is a good reason why these are hidden, and should remain so.

Seems this map is a copy of a city map published in 1994 by another publisher... However, it's nothing special, and the usual free maps you get at the tourist information are far better than this one you have to pay for

This book on the West Coast Trail provides an overview, but people interested in hiking the trail are better off just buying the map or getting free information from BC Tourism or the web. This book has some details of places along the trail, but is missing key information. For example, there is no information on the total length of the trail or how many days it takes to hike it. While various points of interest/camping spots are described and referenced on a small map in the book, there is no information as to the distances between these points. (The map also lacks trail mileages.) Why this information was left out, I do not know.

On the plus side, there is some good information on getting to/from the trailheads and a couple of descriptions of other nearby trails.

Many changes have been made since this map was made in 1992. Names have changed and new things built.