Reddit mentions: The best canadian historical biographies

I posted this to a similar question on r/geologycareers awhile ago. Similar info as others, but a bit more detailed

--------

Oh, the stories I could tell about this subject. However, rather than get myself into trouble, I will give you a good book recommendation that chronicles the story of the search for diamonds in the Canadian Arctic. This covers some of the stuff you are asking.

• Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic by Kevin Krajick
  
  You’re basically familiar with the main components already on a how to become a junior. There’s a few different pathways to actually running a junior mining company, but they all basically fall into two categories:
  
  

1. be an entrepreneur
   
   

• 2. work for an entrepreneur
     
     I’ve in been in the business since the late 90’s and have worked with majors and juniors. While I have been a self-employed consultant at times, I don’t consider myself that much of risk taker to actually start an exploration company. I’ve been around enough of these personalities and talked with successful ones and not-so successful ones to provide some high-level advice.
     
     The tl;dr version is:
     
     

1. do some grassroots exploration; find something interesting
   
   

• 2. stake the claims
     
• 3. attend PDAC; talk to juniors with a geographic fit or commodity class to your property
     
• 4. get someone interested; sign a buy-in deal, where they invest into further exploration for an increasing ownership stake
     
• 5. sell off your majority stake in the property, but hold on to a royalty deal
     
• 6. rinse and repeat
     
     The best way I found to explain (and to relate) the junior exploration business is to think of it as a very niche branch of investing in real estate. No matter the technical details of a project, the end result is a land deal. Someone is investing capital for a piece of land that has the potential for higher economic value if developed (i.e. a mine is built).
     
     Now comparing the junior exploration industry to real estate brings into a comparison where investment capital comes from.
     
     
• Private money
  
• Public money
  
  Public money is basically most of the companies that set up a booth at PDAC. These companies are listed on the TSX or TSXV and are soliciting the public for investing capital by offering shares in their companies.
  
  Private money basically comes from all the wealth management groups or hedge funds. Look up the various companies that have set up shop on Bay Street.
  
  To access these sources of money isn’t straight forward. It does require some networking, which requires time. The other aspect is that you will need to find a lawyer that can help with drafting contracts and various other agreements.
  
  This is how I would approach this situation if I were a 22-year-old fresh geology grad, with the intent of owning my junior mining company.
  
  

1. Work 5 years; for a few different juniors on a few different projects. Save some money.
   
   

• 2. Take that saved money and the knowledge gained to find some prospective ground that you can stake a claim or buy into. With about $5000 to $10000 you can self-finance a small exploration program. Review the claims and geology on the various provincial websites. Find an area that might have had historic mining, historic exploration, similar geology to a new ore deposit model..etc. You could connect with a local prospector and strike up a deal. Offer your services as geologist for free for some type of back-end deal.
     
• 3. Through out this time period, continue networking. Become familiar some VP of Exploration of various companies. Seek out some gray-hair geologists. Maybe bug a former Thayler Lindsley or Bill Dennis award winner for advice.
     
• 4. Between networking and finding your “own project”, you should be able establish a connection with someone directly or who knows someone that would be willing to listen to your story on your project. That person will be your first investor and you’re off to the races.
     
• 5. You’ll also need to be an avid reader. You’ll need to pick up books on contract law, public markets, take some short courses at conferences, work on your public speaking.
     
     In terms of direct sources of information, Edumine.com has a lot of online coursework and webinars. I’ve taken a few and they are pretty decent. I wouldn’t spend too much money here, but if there’s a specific topic you want to learn more about, it might be worth the cost.
     
     Sedar.com; Every publicly traded company in the minerals business publishes a NI 43-101 report on a project. If you want to get some great background info, this is a good place to go. Look up a claim map, find the company name, go to their website, find their project name, look up the NI 43-101 on that project.
     
     Short Courses at Conferences; Roundup/PDAC/CIM and various provincial conferences will have short courses where you can get an infodump quickly on a specific topic. For instance at Roundup this year, there was a short course called “Capital Markets for Geologists”. Basically, it was a mini-mini-investment MBA for geologists in a two-day course.
     
     There’s another subset of this discussion I haven’t even touched. Many, many junior mining companies are simply shell companies. They are only setup for accounting purposes. People play the stock market game by moving projects in and out of companies, selling and buying shares, and even changing their company name to match the investing euphoria of the day. For example, add “Cobalt, Blockchain, or Cannabis” to your company name and watch your share price skyrocket.
     
     Anyway, there’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll pop back in periodically and see if anyone asks anymore questions.

This is so freakin awesome! My SO and I are in the process of building an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) behind our existing house. At almost 700 sq ft it's not a tiny house but we're still constantly looking at blogs and websites for inspiration to do more with less space. Our architect specializes in tiny house so he has tons of great ideas.


You also live in one of my favorite places in the world. I LOVE the the west coast of BC and have been there probably 20 separate times. Last year me and 4 friends spent a week in the Broken Group kayaking. A few years ago my SO spent 10 days kayaking around Desolation Sound. A couple years ago I hikes the West Coat Trail solo. It was awesome but incredibly crowded. Each night camping was like being in a tent city, but I loved doing that trip solo... I had never done something like that before and it's great to have all that time to be introspective. I did a half marathon in Ucluelet last summer which was really fun. Someday I want to do a ski trip to Smithers but it's so isolated!


If you haven't read it already I think a great book to enjoy in your cabin is Adventures in Solitude. It actually inspired me to do the kayak trip in Desolation Sound. I also really liked The Curve of Time and it's follow up.

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Solitude-Potluck-Stories-Desolation/dp/1550175149

http://www.amazon.com/The-Curve-Time-Wylie-Blanchet/dp/1770500375/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51OssaRaVLL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=159YR41XBFN2KZW85M6K


Thanks so much for sharing! I get all fired up when I see these and someday I'd like to spend 6 months a year in a cabin like yours and 6 months a year in a tiny cabin near the bottom of a ski lift!

This is quite the under-taking, so I'll just list the presidents from which I am familiar with the historical literature. In order to guarantee that you get an analytically thorough understanding of each president, I'll avoid "pop" histories (thus, nothing by David McCullough) in favor of more analytically driven, yet still well written, histories. I will still incorporate some books from non-academic publishers, however. First off, the best place to start would probably be the University of Kansas's American Presidency Series (note that this is different from the American Presidents Series, which is done from NY Times books. Always be sure to check the publisher). This series is great for getting a good understanding of what historians in general have written about each respective president; however, the series only focuses on the presidency, which is more constrained than what you're looking for. I'll just go in sequential order based on when the individual was president.

• George Washington
  
  Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. (Do not buy this book off the internet. I've seen the hardcover version of this book in the overstock sections of Barnes and Nobles, Wal Marts, and even Albertsons for $6. Don't become reticent about it because it's in the cheapy bin at Wal Mart. Chernow is one of the best biographers of early American history and the book won a Pulitzer.
  
  His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis
  
  
• John Adams
  
  John Adams: A Life by John Ferling
  
  
• Thomas Jefferson
  
  Thomas Jefferson by R.B. Bernstein
  
  Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham
  
  
• James Madison
  
  James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketcham
  
  The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the American Republic by Lance Banning
  
  
• James Monroe
  
  James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity by Harry Ammon
  
  
• John Quincy Adams
  
  Paul Nagel's John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life
  
  For an in depth look at his time as Secretary of State, check out John Quincy Adams: Policymaker for the Union by James E. Lewis, Jr.
  
  
• Andrew Jackson
  
  Robert Remini's 3-volume biography is still the most comprehensive on Andrew Jackson. Vol. I is Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767-1821; Vol. II is Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822-1833; Vol. III is Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845.
  
  Old Hickory's War: Andrew Jackson and the Quest for Empire by David and Jeanne Heidler is also worth reading.
  
  
• Theodore Roosevelt
  
  Edmund Morris's 3-volume biography. Vol. I, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt; Vol. II, Theodore Rex;, Vol. III, Colonel Roosevelt
  
  
• Harry Truman
  
  Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman by Alonzo Hamby
  
  
• John F. Kennedy
  
  The aforementioned American Presidency Series book, The Presidency of John F. Kennedy, revised edition by James Giglio.
  
  An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek
  
  
• Lyndon Johnson
  
  Robert Caro's multi-volume biography (still unfinished). Vol. I, The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power; Vol. II, Means of Ascent; Vol. III, Master of the Senate; Vol. IV, The Passage of Power; Vol. V is yet to be published.
  
  For a one volume account, LBJ: Architect of Ambition by Randall Woods is also good.
  
  
• Richard Nixon
  
  Strangely, there still isn't a definitive book on Nixon's presidency. For a good understanding of his presidency, you need to get into more specific areas, like Nixon and foreign affairs, Nixon and the civil rights movement, or even biographies of Nixon's closest advisers within his administration. The best account of Nixon himself would by the American Presidency Series's entry by Melvin Small, The Presidency of Richard Nixon. Equally important when attempting to understand Nixon's presidency is the life and thought of Henry Kissinger. The single best biography of Kissinger is Jeremi Suri's Henry Kissinger and the American Century.
  
  
• Gerald Ford
  
  Really the only substantive book on Gerald Ford comes from the American Presidency Series. It's The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford, revised ed by John Greene.
  
  
• Jimmy Carter
  
  The more substantive books on Carter are going to be too dry reading than what you're asking for. A readable, and analytically thorough, biography of Carter's presidency is The Presidency of James Earl Carter, Jr., revised and updated edition by Burton Ira Kaufman. For Carter's (much more effective) time post-presidency, check out Douglas Brinkley's The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Quest for Global Peace. For the Carter presidency's foreign policy, still the best account is Morality, Reason, and Power: American Diplomacy in the Carter Years by Gaddis Smith.
  
  
• Ronald Reagan
  
  It's hard to find a good, unbiased biography of Reagan. By far the best biography comes from the journalist Lou Cannon in his book, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime.
  
  Sean Wilentz's The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 is also good, but the author becomes more clearly biased as the history gets closer to the present. Still, despite the author's biases it is a great book that is analytically sharp and incredibly well written.
  
  Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s by Gil Troy offers a solid, more positive assessment of Reagan than most historians provide.
  
  
• George H.W. Bush
  
  The American Presidency Series's entry by John Greene, The Presidency of George Bush
  
  
• Bill Clinton
  
  Historians are just now starting to dig into the Clinton presidency. The best account of the Clinton presidency, like Reagan's presidency, comes from a journalist: John Harris's The Survior: Bill Clinton in the White House
  
  There are also a ton of books on the George W. Bush presidency, many of them good, many of them bad. While I'm not a big fan of this sub-reddit's 20 years prior rule, I will respect it. If you want some suggestions on George W. Bush, just PM me.
  
  Edit: I realized I completely left out John Quincy Adams so I added him in.
  Edit #2: I also linked my suggestions to their respective Amazon page.

Everyone else's are great, but, I'm here to bring you the best! :D

Non-fiction, which meet "the adirondack vibe":

The Dangerous River -- amazing paddling tale, very exciting.

Adirondack French Louie -- the ultimate Adirondack hermit, all else I can say is Ba da holee feeeesh! (not a mystery/thriller, but, very much has the vibe)

Fiction:

The Martian -- although tainted by the movie, if you haven't seen the movie, read the book. It's an amazing adventure tale and while out adventuring in the Adirondacks, just amplifies the adventure, I think.

(edit: formatting)

Hmm, have you read Stitches? That's another favorite of mine. I'd also rec Vietnamerica, Castle Waiting, Black Hole, and Two Generals. And Bone is long but very awesome if you want to get in touch with your inner kid.

That is pretty much the extent of my graphic novel rec list, I honestly read way more manga and webcomics. If you want some help in those areas, I'd also be happy to oblige!

Your intentions are noble but the likelihood of obtaining substantial results (i.e., getting elected) are very small. I believe the last independent elected in Ontario was in my area, Peter North (from the NDP, not the porno star) who started out as an NDPer than for various reasons sat and ran independently.

I've always felt that if you truly feel the way you do, the better option is to choose the political party closest to your ideology and get involved with it. Join and attend meetings. You'd be surprised at how few people really spend enough time to get involved and unless you're totally wacko you can affect policy in short order. Preston Manning wrote a book some time ago that very idea. Good luck.

I should refer you to this map I just saw in /r/MapPorn. French territory was much poorer than English territory. New France was typically not very stable and resulted in a substantial degree of integration with the Native population. Relations between the locals and the settlers are much better than in Spanish-controlled territory, as the Spanish take a pretty brutal approach to living life in North America. The French traded with natives from the outset of the New French colony in an effort to gain a monopoly over the fur trade. The French exploited existing inter-tribal alliances and rivalries to establish trade relationships with the Huron, Montagnais, and Algonquins along the St. Lawrence River and further inland toward the Great Lakes. These Native Americans competed for exclusive status as intermediaries between other Indian traders and the French. Guns, silverware, and textiles were traded regularly for furs and pelts. Life there was dirtier, gritter, harder, and slower than in the 13 British colonies due to economic downturns and failure to control the fur trade. One might say a day in the life of a French settler involved more positive interaction with the Native Americans and hunting than a farming or bureaucratic lifestyle (which the British tended towards.) The Native Americans often taught the New French how to survive off of the land, which was useful to the settlers because France was never really able to support her colonies in America very well due to constant strife in the mother country as well as strong competition from the British and Dutch. One can infer that life became rather aboriginal at times for these French. France formally ceded New France to the British in the Treaty of Paris, signed on February 10, 1763. French culture and religion remained dominant in most of the former territory of New France, until the arrival of British settlers led to the later creation of Upper Canada (today Ontario) and New Brunswick. After the British surrendered to the Americans at Yorktown in 1781, the Treaty of Versailles in 1783 gave all former British claims in New France below the Great Lakes into the possession of the nascent United States. The Louisiana Territory, under Spanish control since the end of the Seven Year's War, remained off-limits to settlement from the thirteen American colonies. Twenty years later, Third Treaty of San Ildefonso secretly returned Louisiana to France in 1801, leading Napoleon Bonaparte to sell it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and separating Lousiana from Canada. This represented the end of the French colonial empire in North America In 1803, Emperor Napoleon sold the entire territory to President Thomas Jefferson because it was largely regarded as an economic burden/failure. It wasn't worth contending with the United States, a rising power.
Source: The Canadian Frontier, 1534-1760 and The People of New France

edited for grammar.

If you want to read a book there's a lengthy biography from John English (who I know) in two volumes called Citizen of the World (before becoming PM) and Just Watch Me (after 1968 when he becomes PM). Just a note that it's a friendly author, he was a Liberal MP under PET (for Pierre Elliot Trudeau), which provides a unique perspective as well. He still wrote a stellar biography if you look outside liberal circles like media reviews. You can also google Pierre's memoirs.

Wikipedia also gives an overview but you won't really get the full picture. You can find some good stuff in the CBC archives (God love the CBC archives). You can see some of his famous political moments and see the man himself speak. While you're at it, watch Justin's eulogy for PET in 2000, it's the moment he really made a name for himself nationally.


There's a cbc miniseries called Trudeau you might be able to torrent or google (maybe it's on the CBC website somewhere) which is a bit more dramatized. You can find documentaries elsewhere too, like this one from CTV that focuses less on politics (the politics is super important to why he's such a big deal however).

Right Honourable Men by Michael Bliss


Canada's Prime Ministers by Ramsay Cook

Citizen of the World (Biography of Trudeau I) by John English: Volume 1 and Volume 2

Shadow of Heaven (Pearson) by John English

The first two are board history's and include selections from other biographies about the Prime Ministers; they're a good starting point for boarder history and to find more targeted biographies.

Also, if you're interested, I have a bunch of academic journal articles on both Trudeau and Pearson mostly on the decriminalization of homosexuality, the birth of equal marriage in Canada, debate about the Charter, Peacekeeping, the Flag Debate, and the Bill of Rights. Let me know and I can share those with you through google drive.

The life of William Marshal, the greatest knight the world has ever known. He served 5 English kings, was regent to the throne, is the only person to best Richard the Lionheart in single combat and at the age of 72 defeated invading French forces and drove them off British soil (and since that day, no invading force has ever landed on British soil). He was George R.R. Martin's inspiration for Barristan Selmy. Everything about his life is unbelievably fascinating. Wiki.

Here are some books I've read about him:
The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge
The Knight who Saved England by Richard Brooks
William Marshal: Court, Career and Chivalry in the Angevin Empire 1147-1219 by David Crouch
William Marshall: Knight-Errant, Baron, and Regent of England by Sidney Painter
William Marshal: The Flower of Chivalry by Georges Duby.

If you are interested in Canada during ww2, In for a Penny, In for a Pound is a memoir written by a radio operator in bomber command who fought in europe and north africa. Its a quick read, about 200 or so pages, but very well written with a good eye for balancing technical detail, amusing anecdotes, and sober reflection. Features romance, mutinies, shootouts in the desert, close encounters with Uboats, and things being blown up.

https://www.amazon.ca/For-Penny-Pound-Adventures-Misadventures/dp/0385660774

Try the Right Fight, by Jacques Poitras (CBC NB political reporter). It's 10 years old, so some of the predictions about Bernard Lord's future were not proven.

It tells the story of how the NB Progressive Conservative Party, an amalgam of protestant English Loyalist NB and Acadian nationalists utterly collapsed at the end of Richard Hatfield's two decades in power. The Liberals swept every seat in the legislature in 1987, and the Tories were smashed into pieces. An anti-bilingualism party took hold in English Tory ridings, and became the Official Opposition in the 1991 election. The old PC party staggered from no seats to 3 in 1991, then to 5 in 1995. The book concludes with Bernard Lord, a thirtysomething bilingual Acadian lawyer, putting the party back together to win a massive majority in 1999.

The Lord PC party remains in power now, although Bernard Lord left after a Liberal victory in 2006. The Graham Liberals were one and done, and the remnants of the Lord Cabinet regained power in 2010.

Michael Palin wrote an excellent book called Erebus that was released last year. I can personally recommend.

Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time https://www.amazon.com/dp/1771644419/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_DxToDb368MVE7

Possibly not what you’re asking for, but I wish every Canadian would read the brilliant biography of Samuel de Champlain from 2009, Champlain’s Dream by David Hackett Fischer

Also from the Penguin Extraordinary Canadians series there is Louis Hippolyte-Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin by John Raulston Saul.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

The Lives of Conn Smythe is a good book, its more about Smythe's than the leafs but worth considering. Heres the amazon link in case you're interested: https://www.amazon.ca/Lives-Conn-Smythe-Battlefield-Gardens/dp/0771056842/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481680924&sr=1-1&keywords=conn+smythe

Just read one of his many biographies (I suggest Citizen of the World, J. English). Putting his life into context matters.

It matters that this was his context growing up, but then he expanded his horizons by studying abroad and incorporating liberalism into his moral philosophy. He's not the only one to make the jump from 'corporatism' (dictionary definition, has nothing to do with corporations) to social liberalism in that era. But he is one of the very, very few to be able to make the case for liberal values inclusive of both French (not just Québec), and English values.

I recommend this one if you like anecdotal historical stories about the province :)

Edit: This is another site

I mean lady in the traditional manner. I consider myself to be a feminine feminist - liking fashion and science needn't be mutually exclusive. I was once called a proper lady in the field for handling a difficult situation with grace and kindness, so the idea kinda stuck.

That, and it's a nod to a book I really like: The Last Gentleman Adventurer

I'm trying to remember and I can't -- it has something to do with the way he restructured cabinet to create subcommittees, or perhaps with creating the "p & p" committee that effectively replaced cabinet as the core decision-making body. In any case, the key text that explains the whole history is Donald Savoie, Governing from the Centre, but I seem to recall some interesting stuff can be found in John English, Just Watch Me

Have you read The Curve of Time?

If I had 6 weeks off, I would go to some of the places mentioned. Not all of them are on the island though.