Highballer: True Tales From A Treeplanting Life – Greg Nolan
While the logging industry is a major employer in British Columbia, there’s an entirely different part of the silviculture industry that doesn’t get as much coverage: tree planting. Greg Nolan tells his adventures in tree planting starting in the early 80s and continuing for almost 3 decades, encountering the best and worst that the wilderness of British Columbia has to offer.
The Survival Guide to British Columbia – Ian Ferguson
Award-winning humourist Ian Ferguson lays out life in British Columbia in a very tongue-in-cheek handbook on life in BC. Ferguson takes on a trip through the province, highlighting the sillier side of yoga, coffee, and snowboarding. And ferry traffic. And bridge traffic. And lineups on the ski lifts…
Stagecoach North: A History of Barnard's Express – Ken Mather
The Cariboo Gold Rush of the mid-19th century brought a lot of change to what would become the Province of BC. Between the coast, where all the gold miners were arriving, and the Cariboo where the mines were, the was no efficient way to transport goods and large numbers of people. Enter Barnard’s Express, the first major transportation company to blaze a trail through BC’s Interior.
The Flora and Fauna of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest – Collin Varner
British Columbia is really big. Sometimes we take for granted how much variety there is in our local plant and animal life. Filled with hundreds of photos and descriptions of varieties of all the various species of all kinds of creatures up and down Coastal British Columbia, Flora and Fauna showcases the splendor of our province.
Victoria’s Most Haunted: Ghost Stories From BC's Historic Capital City – Ian Gibbs
Victoria is a beautiful city with gardens, attractions, and historical buildings from BC’s political past and present. With those come its own share of spooky and mysterious stories of ghosts and haunted mansions. Find nearly 30 stories of BCs most haunted city.
Voices from the Skeena: An Illustrated Oral History – Roy Henry Vickers & Robert Budd
Drawn from interviews in the 1960s, these accounts of life on the Skeena River are Illustrated by award winning artist Roy Henry Vickers. These tales tell of early riverboating, fishing, and living off the land on and around British Columbia’s second longest wholly owned river.
The Okanagan Table – Rod Butters
Known for its lush farmland, orchards, and wineries, the Okanagan is a food oasis. This book of recipes is inspired by the bounty of the BC’s interior. Designed with the home cook in mind, these recipes are simple but delicious.
Go Do Some Great Thing: The Black Pioneers of British Columbia – Crawford Kilian
This newly updated and revised edition of the 1978 book tells the forgotten stories of early Black settlers to British Columbia, from families in the Gulf Islands to legendary Vancouver figure Joe Fortes. Black immigrants are a forgotten part of the history of the province, from industry to politics to the arts.
In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch – John Zada
The Great Bear Rainforest is to a huge diversity of plant and animal life, but legends and myths tell of one special creature yet undiscovered: the Sasquatch. Hear tales of the search for the Sasquatch throughout the region from people of all types, from adventurers to the indigenous peoples of the north coast.
Steven McCreedy is a library technician at Richmond Public Library. For more recommendations, visit the library’s website.
