Category: Book Review

Tuesday morning I went down to Smith’s Cove to visit David Raymond. David, like myself, had taught at the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS). In his case, in the Cartography program; in my case in the Department of Computer Programming. David has invited me to be a speaker at an event planned for Truro, August 14th. It is a workshop on the A.F. Church Historical Maps hosted by the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia.

Clearly, I have much to catch up on, specifically the topic of Historical GIS. As I undertake my background research, I anticipate a series of blogs on the topic.

In Canada, it is hard to use the term GIS (Geographic Information System) without reference to Roger Tomlinson.

Roger was instrumental in the development of the Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) initially designed to handle the Canada Land Inventory (CLI) for the federal government. Roger ran a consulting company, Tomlinson Associates from Ottawa. In the 1980’s, as COGS developed training programs in GIS, our paths crossed on many occasions. In the Maritimes, I recall the competition between the CARIS system from New Brunswick (Sam Masry and YC Lee), the STRINGS system used by MRMS in Amherst and the Arc/Info system from Esri in California.

There was a time when new COGS graduates were a pre-requisite for Esri systems as they were installed across North America.

What was a GIS? It was computer software that managed geographic data, portrayed on maps as points, lines and polygons, their associated attributes, as well as imagery (e.g. aerial photographs and satellite imagery). It allowed for a wide range of analyses of both the geography and the related attributes.

COGS was well positioned, with access to survey science, photogrammetry, remote sensing, cartography, planning as well as computer programming.

For a more recent view, I have pulled from my bookshelves three seminal texts.

1. Roger Tomlinson, 2013, Thinking about GIS: Geographic Information System Planning for Managers (5th. Edition), Esri Press.
2. Paul Longley, Michael Goodchild, David Maguire, and David Rhind, 2015, Geographic Information Science and Systems, (4th. Edition), Wiley.
3. Christian Harder (Ed.), 2015, The ArcGIS book: 10 Big Ideas about applying Geography to your world, Esri Press.

David Raymond lent me his copy of ‘Cartographica Extraordinaire’ The Historical Map Transformed by David Rumsey and Edith Punt. Punt was a Cartography graduate from COGS. She works for Esri in Redlands, California.

From the back cover,

”Extraordinary is the value of this book as a gateway into the Rumsey web site – the chronological listing of all illustrations in the book is carefully referenced to the digital collection on the Internet where users can select their own details”.

David Woodward, Arthur Robinson Professor of Geography Emeritus, University of Wisconsin- Madison,

David Rumsey and Edith Punt, 2004, Cartographica Extraordinaire: The Historical Map Transformed, Esri Press.

Postscript

Please note my references are all before 2015. There have been many new developments in the last six years. Time for more research.

Just returned from the Lawrencetown library, John Higgs’ book, Watling Street, has arrived from the University of Alberta. Travels through Britain and its ever-present past. Recommended by Peter Maher.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to David Raymond for sharing his knowledge and expertise. Edward added the graphics. Edward was Remote Sensing instructor at COGS, contemporary with David and myself.

From the Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch to Thoreau: Walden and other writings.

“The lessons he had taught himself, and which he tried to teach others, was summed up in the one word ‘Simplify’. That meant simplify the outward circumstances of your life, simplify your needs and ambitions; learn to delight in the simple pleasures which the world of Nature affords. It meant also, scorn public opinion, refuse to accept the common definitions of success, refuse to be moved by the judgement of others.” p.1.

Directly from Thoreau:

”Men have an indistinct notion that if they keep up this activity of joint stocks and spades long enough all will at length ride somewhere, in next to no time, and for nothing; but though a crowd rushes to the depot, and the conductor shouts “All aboard!” When the smoke has blown away and the vapor condensed, it will be perceived that a few are riding, but the rest are run over – and it will be called, and will be, ‘a melancholy accident ‘.” p.2.

Next to our bed, Heather has hung on the wall a needlework sampler. Yes, it read ‘Simplify’.

In these COVID times, it is sometimes difficult to accept the government imposed simplification. From my previous blog post, Rocky Hebb noted that The Inside Story bookstore in Greenwood is outside of the municipality. He further raised the question, whether a book is an ‘essential good’?

The best antidote seems to be working in the garden or getting the orchard in good shape. Or walking down through the property to the Annapolis River. Or bicycling along the Middle Road to Middleton.

Heather LeBlanc responded to my previous blog post with an update on The Mapannapolis Project.

They have announced Mapannapolis 2.0. It started in 2011. Ten years ago. We look forward to the next ten years of progress. It would be wonderful if this initiative became part of a formal relationship between COGS and the community.

With the sale of Andrew’s farm, we have a new audience for background information on Annapolis County. We look forward to welcoming Sinead, Robert and family (some time later in 2021).

Acknowledgements

Thanks to everyone for their blog feedback. In particular, Rocky Hebb, Heather LeBlanc and Sinead Wills. Heather shares the pleasures of garden and orchard. Edward shares his graphics talent.

References

Joseph Wood Krutch, 1962, Thoreau’s Walden and other writings, Bantam Books.

Mapannapolis Project

Postscript

It appears that Annapolis County along with adjacent municipal units has resolved the Valley Waste Disposal issue. Hopefully, this is the sign of better collaboration, as we go forward.

I have been slowly reading from my ‘Treasure Chest’. Specifically, Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life’, the country stories of Roald Dahl, published in 1989.

The Parson’s Pleasure describes a day in the life of Mr. Boggis, an antique collector who masquarades as a country parson. In the story, Dahl describes his approach:

”So Mr Boggis bought maps, large scale maps of all the counties around London, and with a fine pen he divided each of them up into a series of squares. Each of these squares covered an actual area of five miles by five, which was about as much territory, he estimated, as he could cope with on a single Sunday. “

”He didn’t want the towns and the villages. It was the comparatively isolated places, the large farmhouses and the rather dilapidated country mansions, that he was looking for.” p.17.

It is a marvellous story, with a surprising ending. The book has seven short stories.

Roald Dahl is one of the most successful and well-known of all children’s writers.

I went to check Google (roalddahl.com) and discovered the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire.
(photo by David Hillas)

Later in the week, I received a notice about the passing of a school friend from Chiswick, Robert Frith. His obituary was found in The Blackmore Vale. The newsletter is yet another example of ‘rural writing’ from the UK.

PS
My previous blog post on Clacton-on-sea struck a chord with Sandra Barry. Particularly, the link to Elizabeth Bishop’s great uncle, the painter George Wylie Hutchinson who lived there for several years.

Acknowledgements

Andrew Ronay forwarded the link to The Blackmore Vale. Sandra Barry forwarded the link to The Elizabeth Bishop Centenary. Edward added the links and graphics. Heather provided her support.

References

Roald Dahl 1989, Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: the Country Stories of Roald Dahl, Penguin Books.

Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre: roalddahl.com

The Blackmore Vale link

The Elizabeth Bishop Centre link.

Post Script.

I wonder about a Museum and Story Centre in rural Nova Scotia ?

At the Inside Story, I chanced to find a copy of Walt Whitman’s book, Leaves of Grass. The First (1855) Edition.

It includes a lengthy editors introduction by Malcolm Cowley – 37 pages, followed by Whitman’s Introduction 19 pages. This is followed by twelve poems – 120 pages. To date, I am part way through the first poem. This is not easy reading..

Meanwhile, I continue to receive Brain Pickings, twice per week..

”Walt Whitman, felled by a paralytic stroke, he considered what makes life worth living and instructed himself: ”Tone your wants and tastes down enough, and make much of negatives, and more daylight and the skies””.

“He spared himself the additional self-inflicted suffering of outrage at how his body failed him – perhaps because, having proclaimed himself the poet of the Body and the poet of the Soul, he understood the two to be one. He squandered no emotional energy on the expectation that his suddenly disabled body perform a counter possible feat against reality to let him enjoy his beloved tree workouts and daily excursions to the river. He simply edited his expectations to accord with his new reality and sought to find joy there, within these new parameters of being.”

In the same Brain Pickings, there is a link to John Burroughs book ‘Whitman: A Study’.

Meanwhile, from Emergence Magazine, Kathleen Dean Moore Listen : four love songs. Regent Honeyeaters, Western Meadowlank, Brown-headed Cowbird and Red- winged Blackbird.

(photo by Kathrin Swoboda)

”When we listen, we open ourselves to new, joyous relationships with species other than our own.”

On our way to New Glasgow, we stopped at West Brooklyn to pick up the newly bound books by Legge Conservation Services (see earlier blog post HERE). They now have a new lease on life.

Acknowledgements

Edward added the links and graphics. Heather and Siqsiq travelled the backroads of Nova Scotia with me.

Postscript

‘Forests are not renewable’: the felling of Sweden’s ancient trees | Environment | The Guardian

References

Walt Whitman, 1986, Leaves of Grass, The First (1855) Edition, Penguin Classics

Brain Pickings. April 18th,2021. The Stoic remedy for when people let you down.

Emergence Magazine. April 18th,2021, Celebrating Earth Week.

This week , I needed to find some ‘light reading’. I packed up a box of books to take to the Endless Shores bookstore in Bridgetown. They will give me credit towards any book that I might purchase.

When I was last in Bridgetown library they had a display copy of “Nova Scotia: Window on the Sea”. However, it could not be taken out of the library. I found a copy at Endless Shores. It was written in 1973. Buckler wrote the text to accompany the photographs by Hans Weber (see fiftieth anniversary note HERE).

Would the writing continue the style from Ox Bells and Fireflies 1968? Included are five essays: Amethysts and Dragonflies, Mast and Anchors, Man and Snowman, Faces and Universes, Counterfeit and Coin (see posts, Chance Encounters and Pastoral Economy).

In Buckler’s words, “Nova Scotia is nearly an island, nearly the last place left where place and people are not thinned or adulterated with graftings that grow across the grain.” p.12 or

“It’s mountains take on no Cabot lordliness. They chat like uncles with their nephew valleys.”p.12.

“Nova Scotia is the face from Genesis and the face from Ruth. The face from Greco and the face from Rubens. The life of Faulkner and the life from Hardy…..It is a dictionary where the seasons look up their own meanings and test them. It is a sea-son where men can man their own helms.” p.16

After finding Buckler, I went on a search for George Orwell (Eric Blair). I found “Animal Farm” but was not ready to read it. Instead I chanced on Wendell Berry, “Home Economics: fourteen essays“. The last essay is titled “Does Community have a Value?” It describes farming in the hilly country near Port Royal (Kentucky) in 1938.

“The local community must understand itself finally as a community of interest — a common dependence on a common life and a common ground. And because, a community is, by definition, placed, its success cannot be divided from the success of its place, its natural setting and surroundings : its soils, forests, grasslands, plants and animals, water, light and air. The two economies, the natural and the human, support each other; each is the other’s hope of a durable and a livable life.” p.192.

I think the same is true for Nova Scotia.

Acknowledgements

Jennifer Crouse, owner of the Endless Shores Books and other Treasures. Edward added the graphics. Heather shared our weekend reading of Voice of the People, Chronicle Herald March 27 D4. Are we ‘tree-huggers’ or’sub-hillbillies’ ?

References

Ernest Buckler and Hans Weber, 1973, Nova Scotia: Window on the Sea, McClelland and Stewart Ltd.

Wendell Berry, 1987, Home Economics: Fourteen essays by Wendell Berry, North point Press.

Postscript

I wanted to title the blog ‘Buckler and Blair’ to correspond with the Ernest Blair Experiment but had to settle for Buckler and Berry.

Last weekend we were at the New Glasgow library. I was looking for a specific Harry Thurston book for Heather’s Dad. While there, I discovered The Magic Ground, written by Harold Horwood. It includes an essay ‘In Defence of Hobby Farms’. The following paragraph on p.54 caught my attention.

“That is one of the reasons why I live on the shores of the Annapolis Basin, why I spend so much time in a woodlot and an orchard and among flower borders, why I choose to work here, surrounded by life triumphant, instead of in a great city, where death seems likely to succeed. Here I can hope that my work will inspire people, fill them with confidence, help them to love the world rather than dread its terrors.”

Subsequent research online, unearthed M.A. thesis by Rochelle Mary Spracklin at Memorial University, “Didacticism in the Fictional Work of Harold Horwood’, 1990.

Also referenced was a book of poetry, published by Gaspereau Press, Cycle of the Sun: A lament for northern Labrador. In Horwood’s own words, “the poet, Harry Thurston was in the audience and came to me and asked to be allowed to submit the poem to his publisher, Gaspereau Press”.

I will enjoy the remaining essays in the Magic Ground, while I wait to see if I can obtain a copy of Cycle of the Sun, through Jaki at the Lawrencetown library.

Acknowledgements

Jaki Fraser at the Lawrencetown library. Edward for his additions. Heather for sharing the drive to New Glasgow.

References

Harold Horwood, 1996, The Magic Ground, Nimbus Publishing.

Rochelle Mary Spracklin, Didacticism in the Fictional Works of Harold Horwood, M.A. thesis 1990, research.library.mun.ca

Harold Horwood, 2003, Cycle of the Sun, Gaspereau Press

Harold Horwood at encyclopedia.com

This week, I received a parcel in the mail from Amazon. It contained a book and a game, from Patrick and family, for my birthday. The book was Under a White Sky: the Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert. The game was Exit the Game. Dead Man on the Orient Express. (Have not checked out the game, yet)

Kolbert won the Pulitzer Prize for her previous book, The Sixth Extinction. She is a staff writer at the New Yorker. Heather had read the Sixth Extinction, and enjoyed it. “In The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert explored the ways in which our capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world”. Patrick selected the book because he had not seen any blog references.

Kolbert divides her current book into three sections: Down the River; Into the Wild; Up in the Air. Down the River describes the diversion of the Chicago River, the invasive carp species, and the changes in the Mississippi’s hydrology. Into the Wild includes chapters on the endangered Pupfish in Death Valley, the global threats to the coral reefs, and invasive cane toads in Australia. The final section, Up in the Air, includes a chapter on climate change and the Greenland ice sheet.

In the words of the author:
“This has been a book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems.”

My response to Kolbert’s book was to head back to my bookcase. Did not Stewart Brand talk about similar issues in Whole Earth Discipline: an Ecopragmatist Manifesto in 2009 ? On the same shelf, I noticed John Ralston Saul’s The Unconscious Civilization. Where does that fit ?

Another perspective can be found in the current Brain Pickings, February 21st. There, you will find reference to the writing of William Vogt, Road to Survival.

Postscript

Friday morning, we dropped into the Bridgetown Library. I picked up a copy of Paradis Terrestre. It is a history of the village of Paradise, Nova Scotia compiled by members of the Paradise Women’s Institute. I was interested in Chapter 13, Micmac Memories. At the entrance to the Library, I noted a collection of books by, and about Ernest Buckler. Must check out, next time.

Today (Sunday) we skied the Rifle Range Road. It was hard going. Now, that the surrounding trees have been clear-cut, the trail is more exposed to the sunlight. This makes for heavier snow, especially in the late afternoon.

By the way, Edward and I share the same birthday, 14th February.

Acknowledgements

Patrick for the birthday gift. Edward for his artistic support. Heather for sharing the reading and the skiing.

References

Elizabeth Kolbert, 2021, Under a White Sky: the Nature of the Future, Penguin Random House

Stewart Brand, 2009, Whole Earth Discipline: an Ecopragmatist Manifesto, Viking (Penguin Random House).

John Ralston Saul, 1995, The Unconscious Civilization, House of Anansi.

Paradis Terrestre: a History of the Village of Paradise, Nova Scotia. Compiled by members of the Paradise Women’s Institute.

Brain Pickings February 21, 2021, Road to Survival.