The boat's library has a really good selection of books on the natural and cultural history of the Charlottes. I mention a few guide and general interest books here that will enhance your knowledge of the Islands and help you to plan your trip. Most are available through major booksellers (at least on an order basis). If you like to shop locally, there are numerous gift shops on the Islands that offer most of these books for sale (Northwest Coast Books www.nwcbooks.com e-mail: sales@nwcbooks.com 1-250-559-4681, Rainbows Gallery: 250-559-8420, Joy's Island Jeweller’s: 250-559-8890 and the Haida Gwaii Museum: 250-559-4643 are just a few in the Queen Charlotte City area).
Guide Books:
- Haida Gwaii, The Queen Charlotte Islands - Dennis Harwood (2000, $18.95 CDN$) Good up to date general guide with sections on the geography, social history and natural attractions of the Islands.
- Guide To The Queen Charlotte, Islands Haida Gwaii (2001 edition) - Observer Publishing (Phone: 1-250- 559-4680, $3.95) Published annually. A good source of who offers what and things to do while on the Charlottes.
- Haida Gwaii: Journeys Through The Queen Charlotte Islands - Ian Gill and David Nunik (1997, $18.95) Fabulous photo's, text a bit coloured.
- A Guide To The Queen Charlotte Islands, Twelfth Edition - Neil Carey (1998, $14.95)
- Trail Guide To The Queen Charlotte Islands (or something...) - Fern Henderson (published by the Haida Gwaii Museum, ~ $7.00). A great little guide to hiking trails on the Charlottes. Available through the Museum 250-559-4643 and other outlets on the Islands.
- The Queen Charlotte Islands - Book 2, Of Places and Names - Kathleen Dalzell (1973, numerous reprintings in paper) The level of detail in this book probably extends beyond "general interest". I have it on the boat as a great reference source providing lots of history through a place name format.
- Islands At The Edge - Islands Protection Society (1984). Not actually a 'guide book' but has a wealth of information and great photographs. Put together by John Broadhead and Thom Henley as part of the effort to increase awareness of the value of preserving Gwaii Haanas. Northwest Coast Books (www.nwcbooks.com ; (250) 559-4681) may have a copy.
Rob's picks:
- Passage to Juneau, A Sea and Its Meanings - Jonathan Raban (2000, $23.00) From the aft cover: "As Raban steers his 35-sailboat up the Northwest coast, he combines stunningly apt natural observation with mordant social commentary, encyclopedic learning with an unsparing narrative of personal loss. He invents an entire vocabulary of metaphors for wind and water. "Passage to Juneau" is a masterpiece of the literature of the sea, a work that overflows with wisdom, humor, sadness, and suspense". A great read.
- Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Fates Of Human Societies - Jared Diamond (1998, $19.99) "This is a brilliantly written, whirlwind tour through 13,000 years of history on all the continents - a short history of everything about everybody. The origins of empires, religion, writing, crops and guns are all here. By at last providing a convincing explanation for the differing developments of human societies on differing continents, the book demolishes the grounds for racist theories of history. It's account of how the modern world was formed is full of lessons for our own future" Paul R. Ehrlich
- Story as Sharp as a Knife: An Introduction to Classical Haida Literature - Robert Bringhurst ( Douglas & McIntyre 1998, recently released in paperback.) Looks at Haida mythology as the poetry it is with interesting analysis of the individual Haida "poets" who patiently told the stories to Swanton and other ethnologists in the early 1900's.
- Haida Monumental Art: Villages of the Queen Charlotte Islands - George F. MacDonald (1994, $45.00) A very reasonably priced large format book that is gauranteed to take you back in time. George was curator of the national Gallery in Ottawa and remains as one of the most knowledgeable people on N.W. coast native art and culture.
- Collapse – Jared Diamond
- A Short History of Progress – Ronald Wright
- 1491 – Charles Mann
- An Inconvenient Truth – Al Gore
- Field Notes From A Catastrophe – Elizabeth Kolbert
- Heat – George Monbiot
- Power Down: Options & Actions For A Post-Carbon World – Richard Heinburg
- The Long Emergency: Surviving The Converging Catastrophe’s Of The 21st Century – James Howard Kunstler
(You can see that I have a strange, perhaps macabre, attraction to learning of the coming Armageddon…)
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