Search:

The road to Appledore : or, How I went back to the land without ever having lived there in the first place / by Wayman, Tom,1945-author.;
"Acclaimed author Tom Wayman's account of his shift from urban to rural. The recent pandemic accelerated an existing trend among urban Canadians to move to the country. Yet to quote from a 2022 Globe and Mail article, "People from cities don't always realize what they're getting into." For anyone setting out in that direction, or dreaming of doing so, Tom Wayman's The Road to Appledore: Or How How I Went Back to the Land Without Ever Having Lived There in the First Place is rewarding reading. The book follows Wayman from Vancouver to southeastern BC's Slocan Valley, deep in the Selkirk Mountains, and presents with his characteristic humour and philosophical insight his ensuing major shifts of perspective and knowledge. Mishaps, misadventures and moments of delight and wonder abound in Wayman's prose reflections on his decades of living immersed in nature and the contemporary rural--from having to deal with a bear cub in his kitchen, to engaging in a vigilante action to protect a community water system, to the quiet satisfaction of growing his own food and flowers. Wayman depicts the rural southwest of Canada in intimate detail, transporting readers alongside him."--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Wayman, Tom, 1945-; Mountain life;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Unmasking AI : my mission to protect what is human in a world of machines / by Buolamwini, Joy,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Dr. Joy Buolamwini is the self-described "Poet of Code" who has had a lifelong passion for computer science, engineering, and art -- disciplines that, she felt, pushed the boundaries of reality. After tinkering with robotics as a high school student in Tennessee, to developing mobile apps in Zambia as a Fulbright fellow, Buolamwini eventually found herself at MIT. As a graduate student at the "Future Factory," Buolamwini's groundbreaking research revealed that AI systems -- from leading tech companies -- were consistently failing on non-male, non-white bodies. In Unmasking AI, Buolamwini goes beyond the news headlines about racism, colorism, and sexism in Big Tech to tell the remarkable story of how she uncovered what she calls "the coded gaze" -- evidence of racial and gender bias in tech -- and galvanized the movement to prevent AI harms by founding the Algorithmic Justice League. Applying an intersectional lens to both tech industry and research sector, Buolamwini shows how race, gender, and ability bias can overlap and render broad swaths of humanity vulnerable in our AI-dependent world. Computers, she reminds us, are reflections of both the aspirations and the limitations of the people who create them"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Buolamwini, Joy.; Artificial intelligence; Artificial intelligence; Discrimination in science.; Sex discrimination in science.; Artificial intelligence;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

A carnival of snackery [sound recording] : diaries (2003-2020) / by Sedaris, David,author,narrator.; Ullman, Tracey,narrator.; Hachette Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by David Sedaris, Tracey Ullman.If it's navel-gazing you're after, you've come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leap-ing to his death. There's a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party - lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs. These diaries remind you that you once really hated George W. Bush, and that not too long ago, Donald Trump was just a harm-less laughingstock, at least on French TV. Time marches on, and Sedaris, at his desk or on planes, in hotel dining rooms and odd Japanese inns, records it. The entries here reflect an ever-changing background - new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can't by the end. At its best, A Carnival of Snackery is a sort of sampler: the bitter and the sweet. Some entries are just what you wanted. Others you might want to spit discreetly into a napkin.
Subjects: Biographies.; Audiobooks.; Autobiographies.; Diaries.; Sedaris, David; Authors, American; Humorists, American;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Leaving good things behind : photographs of Atlantic Canada / by Calabrese, Darren,author,photographer.;
"Following an accident resulting in the tragic loss of his mother on their family property in Douglas Harbour, New Brunswick, photojournalist Darren Calabrese--a new father himself--knew it was time to move back to Atlantic Canada, the place both he and his wife called home. Living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, his tremendous sense of loss led him to reflect on the meaning of home and his appreciation for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador: their geographies, histories, and traditions, turning his lens to explore the tension between the perseverance of tradition and the inevitability of change. Darren's photography led him from province to province, into cities, towns, homes, and Indigenous communities, who welcomed him to document the inextricable relationship between people, their stories, and the landscapes--equally beautiful and harsh--where they live and work. Personal essays on loss, family, and coming home, as well as Darren's experiences traveling to the regions he photographs, are woven throughout this evocative collection of carefully curated photographs and narrative captions, accompanied by archival photographs from Darren's deep family history. Elegant, spare, and revelatory at every turn, Leaving Good Things Behind: Photographs of Atlantic Canada brings to light both the challenges and joys of the places we live."--
Subjects: Photobooks.; Calabrese, Darren; Calabrese, Darren;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Colorful : a treasure trove of inspiration, influences, and ideas / by Apfel, Iris Barrel,1921-2024,author.;
"In the summer of 2023, as Iris Apfel welcomed her 102nd birthday, she put pen to paper to write this very special project, which Iris called her legacy book. 'This is not a book of secrets-I have no secrets. Sorry to disappoint if that's what you're looking for. I have some good stories, though. And a few ideas. This book is about living, creating, and color. Because creativity and color matter. I don't want you to dress like me or think like me-that's not the idea of this book. I want you to find the colors, confidence, and creative inspiration that reflect you. My life has been filled with love, wonder, and a very deep, incurable curiosity. This book is my treasure trove of inspiration, influences, and ideas: My source. Be brave. Find your source. What makes you happy? -Much love, Iris x' With more than 300 personal photos and adorned with beautiful, unseen fabric patterns from Iris's Old World Weaver's collection, Iris Apfel: Colorful has her incredible energy radiating from every page. Here she shares her creative work, life stories, adventures, and unwavering belief in the essential power of color and creativity on a life well lived."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Apfel, Iris Barrel, 1921-2024.; Women fashion designers; Women interior decorators; Women textile designers; Color in design.; Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.); Design.; Fashion.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The next day : transitions, change, and moving forward / by Gates, Melinda,1964-author.;
In a rare window into some of her life's pivotal moments, Melinda French Gates draws from previously untold stories to offer a new perspective on encountering transitions. Transitions are moments in which we step out of our familiar surroundings and into a new landscape--a space that, for many people, is shadowed by confusion, fear, and indecision. The Next Day accompanies readers as they cross that space, offering guidance on how to make the most of the time between an ending and a new beginning and how to move forward into the next day when the ground beneath you is shifting. In this book, Melinda will reflect, for the first time in print, on some of the most significant transitions in her own life, including becoming a parent, the death of a dear friend, and her departure from the Gates Foundation. The stories she tells illuminate universal lessons about loosening the bonds of perfectionism, helping friends navigate times of crisis, embracing uncertainty, and more. Each one of us, no matter who we are or where we are in life, is headed toward transitions of our own. With her signature warmth and grace, Melinda candidly shares stories of times when she was in need of wisdom and shines a path through the open space stretching out before us all.
Subjects: Self-help publications.; Self-actualization (Psychology); Life change events.;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Rogues : true stories of grifters, killers, rebels, and crooks / by Keefe, Patrick Radden,1976-author.;
"Patrick Radden Keefe has garnered prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award to the Orwell Prize to the National Book Critics Circle Award forhis meticulously-reported, hypnotically-engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. ROGUES brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from The New Yorker. As Keefe says in his preface "They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial." Keefe brilliantly explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines, examines whether a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a fabulist, spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain, chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black market arms merchant, and profiles a passionate death penalty attorney who represents the "worst of the worst," among other bravura works of literary journalism. The appearance of his byline in The New Yorker is always an event, and collected here for the first time readers can see his work forms an always enthralling but deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up against them"--
Subjects: Crime.; Investigative reporting; Reportage literature, American.; Swindlers and swindling.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

War : how conflict shaped us / by MacMillan, Margaret,1943-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."War, the instinct to fight, is inherent in human nature; peace is the aberration in history. War has shaped humanity, its institutions, its states, its values and ideas. Our very language, our public spaces, our private memories, some of our greatest cultural treasures reflect the glory and the misery of war. War is an uncomfortable and challenging subject not least because it brings out the most vile and the noblest aspects of humanity. Margaret MacMillan looks at the ways in which war has shaped human history and how, in turn, changes in political organization, technology, or ideologies have affected how and why we fight. The book considers such much-debated and controversial issues as when war first started; whether human nature dooms us to fight each other; why war has been described as the most organized of all human activities and how it has forced us to become still more organized; how warriors are made and why are they almost always men; and how we try to control war. Drawing on lessons from a sweep of history, from classical history to modern warfare, and from all parts of the globe, MacMillan reveals the many faces of war--the way it shapes our past, our future, our views of the world, and our very conception of ourselves"--
Subjects: War and society.; War;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Canada's place names and how to change them / by Beck, Lauren,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The first book to demonstrate how inadequately place names and visual emblems represent the presence of women, people of colour, and people living with disabilities, Canada's Place Names and How to Change Them provides an illuminating overview of where these names came from and what they reflect. This book disentangles the distinct cultural, religious, and historical naming practices and visual emblems in Canada's First Nations, provinces, territories, municipalities, and federal lands. Starting with a discussion of Indigenous place knowledge and naming practices from several Indigenous and Inuit groups spanning the country, it foregrounds the breadth of possible ways to name places. Lauren Beck then illustrates the naming practices introduced by Europeans and how they misunderstood, mis-rendered, and appropriated Indigenous place names, while scrutinizing the histories of Columbian names, missionary names, and the secular and commemorative names of the last two centuries. She studies key symbols and emblems such as maps, flags, and coats of arms as visual equivalents of place names to show whose identities powerfully inform Canada's place nomenclature. This book also documents the policies and authorities that have traditionally governed the creation and modification of names and examines case studies of institutions and communities who have changed their names to demonstrate pathways to change."--
Subjects: Emblems; Names, Geographical; Names, Geographical; Names, Geographical;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Girl Runner A Novel [electronic resource] : by Snyder, Carrie.aut; cloudLibrary;
Girl Runner is the story of Aganetha Smart, a former Olympic athlete who was famous in the 1920s, but now, at age 104, lives in a nursing home, alone and forgotten by history. For Aganetha, a competitive and ambitious woman, her life remains present and unfinished in her mind. When her quiet life is disturbed by the unexpected arrival of two young strangers, Aganetha begins to reflect on her childhood in rural Ontario and her struggles to make an independent life for herself in the city. Without revealing who they are, or what they may want from her, the visitors take Aganetha on an outing from the nursing home. As ready as ever for adventure, Aganetha’s memories are stirred when the pair return her to the family farm where she was raised. The devastation of WWI and the Spanish flu epidemic, the optimism of the 1920s and the sacrifices of the 1930s play out in Aganetha’s mind, as she wrestles with the confusion and displacement of the present. Part historical page-turner, part contemporary mystery, Girl Runner is an engaging and endearing story about family, ambition, athletics and the dedicated pursuit of one’s passions. It is also, ultimately, about a woman who follows the singular, heart-breaking and inspiring course of her life until the very end.General adult.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Biographical; Sports;
© 2014., House of Anansi Press Inc,
unAPI