THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday December Page IS Book Reviews Wellchosen books make fine Christmas gifts There arent many shopping days left But as Mr Micawber would say nil desperandum never despair The one gift that is always ac ceptable and nearly always easy to find is a well chosen new book Here are observations on some recently published books that might strike the right chord with the people whose names remain on your list Masterpieces of Canadian Art from the National Gallery of Canada by David Burnett Hur- 230 pages Covering years this is an outstanding compilation of 113 fullcolor il lustrations of works by some 90 artists drawn from the much larger collection of Canadian works on display at the two-year- old gallery in Ottawa The wealth of choice must have made Burnetts task difficult but he ex plains his decisions in a brief essay on each artist The Kingdom Wildlife in North America Douglas and page With more than color photographs by Art Wolfe and insightful nar rative by Douglas Chadwick this largeformat volume constitutes a remarkable look at the animals we share this continent with and rarely see Portraits of the Rainforest by Adrian Forsyth Firefly Books 155 pages Dr Forsyth a biologist on the faculty of Queens University in Kingston writes passionately about the im portance and the ecological richness of the rainforests he has explored and studied in Costa Rica Michael and Patricia many color photographs add an extra measure of immediacy Book of North American Birds edited by James and others Readers Digest- Association of Canada 576 pages Produced with the care and attention to detail that is characteristic of this publisher this handsome volume is an in troduction to almost winged creatures with meticulously crafted paintings by a variety of wildlife artists and commen taries by noted nature writers The species are grouped by size habitat and lifestyle with one section focusing on rarities such as the arctic tern and the spruce grouse A final section is a travellers guide to the best sites throughout North America arranged by province and state Totem Poles by Stewart Douglas and Mclntyre 192 pages Travellers to coastal British Columbia and Alaska are inevitably drawn to the numerous totem poles each carved from a tall cedar and each depicting a legend of the local native culture The author explains in popular terms the meaning and purpose of the poles illustrating her explana tion with drawings and photographs of notable totem Computers Vince Egan poles and the houses sometimes associated with them Barbara Hodgsons design gives the book an exceptionally clean clear ap pearance Magnetic North by David with Diane Landau Douglas and Mclntyre 252 pages 95 At age 20 won the backing of the National Geographic Society for an un precedented trek by foot dogsled and canoe across a wilderness route from Vancouver to Tadoussac at the mouth of Quebecs Saguenay River His quixotic expedition lasted from to and as his gripping narrative shows was fraught with bitter disappointments and extreme danger Halsey died in 1983 an apparent suicide My Fathers Business- A Biography of G Emmett Car dinal Carter by Michael Higgins and Douglas of Canada pages 95 A Affordable computer gifts Not too many of us can afford a new computer this year but there are affordable gifts you might consider for the computer buffs on your Christmas list Heresafewideas First of all how about a magazine subscription Most book stores carry a few magazines dedicated to com puter enthusiasts For a greater selection try the Worlds Biggest Bookstore or in Toronto they both have outstan ding selections of computer magazines In choosing a magazine it will help if you know what kind of computer your friend has For instance users of IBM or IBMcompatible systems would find PC Magazine or PC World useful Owners of Apple Macintoshs might enjoy Mac- World Other computer systems have dedicated magazines as well ask for assistance at the book store Theres also general interest computer magazines like Byte for a fairly technical reader or Computing Now for those with lighter interest Computer books are another good bet although sometimes its hard to choose one for another person But if you know someone has just bought a copy of Word Perfect for instance you might buy a book on getting the most out of WordPerfect There are also a number of introductory books that give a good overview of computer systems that would probably most interest a novice The Worlds Biggest Bookstore has one of the best selections of computer books in the area If you dont think books or magazines are your thing you might try one of a number of computer accessories If you have enough to spend up to say you might think of a Mouse Just make sure to buy one that says it is compatible with a Microsoft Mouse and youll be fine If 10 is more your style consider a mouse pad if your friend has a mouse already These come in all sorts of dif ferent colours and styles so you can choose one to match the reci pients personality Blank diskettes may not be an exciting gift but theyre always welcomed by any computer hob byist Ive ever known The best buys in diskettes are not in com puter stores though the best deals are at stores like BiWay or Towers At these stores a box of 10 5V4 diskettes will cost you only five or six dollars and the quality is just fine that tends to be where I buy mine If youre purchasing for so meone that uses a computer at home a computer game might be in order Its sometimes tough to choose from the descriptions on the box so ask the staff in the store if anyone has played it or if you can see the game running Some computer games can be played by more than one person at once so keep that in mind too when you make your selection Ive found that the best selection of games is stores like Radio Shack or Compucentre stores that cater more to the home au dience rather than to businesses And if all else fails if none of the above appeal to you theres always a gift certificate Get one from a reputable computer store and let your friend or loved one make the choice themselves A gift certificate is always ap preciated and youll be sure that the purchase will be something the recipient really wants WERE YOUR INSURANCE BROKERS WE UNDERSTAND PAUL ARMSTRONG BROKERS LTD 143 MILL ST HUM HID Smgetara Malta 8770133 THE CORPORATION OF THE Town of Halton Hills Hills Drive O Box HALTON HILLS Georgetown Ontario L7G CHRISTMAS NEW YEARS REFUSE COLLECTION SCHEDULE Refuse normally picked up on Christmas Day Tuesday December 1 990 will be picked up on MONDAY DECEMBER 1990 Refuse normally collected on Boxing Day Wednesday December 1990 will be collected on THURSDAY DECEMBER 1990 Thursdays normal route will remain the same Refuse normally picked up on New Years Day Tuesday January 1 991 will be collected on MONDAY 31 1990 Best Wishes To AID Town of Hills M EngineeringPublic Works well rounded and highly readable account of the first years in the life of the recently retired ar chbishop of Toronto from his workingclass beginnings in Mon treal to his eminence as a top churchman The Mennonites A Pictorial History of Their Lives in Canada by Andreas Schroeder Douglas and pages Canada is home to nearly one million Mennonites a religious sect that was launched in Switzerland in and that takes its name from its early leader Simon 14961561 Yet most Canadians perhaps associate the only with the Old Order members in their distinctive black clothing glimpsed at fanners markets or in horsedrawn buggies on back roads a Vancouver area author has written an easi ly readable history of his co religionists who make their home in Canada fully illustrated with 150 blackandwhite photographs both historical and contem porary Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne Sterling pages Verne wrote his imaginary journey in 1872 and each succeeding generation has been intrigued by the travel adventures of British Fogg and his French valet Passepartout as they cir cumnavigate the globe west to east the incredibly short period of days to win a wager The publishers of this attrac tive new edition of the classic have captured the feel of the High Victorian age of travel with 19th- Fashions For The Young At Heart MAIN ST S GEORGETOWN Across From Knox Chinch 8732851 century typeface and layout and with more than 200 paintings drawings photographs and engravings from the period in which the story is set A treat for anyone who enjoys travel even the armchair variety The Saturday Night Traveller by George Gait Harper Collins 211 pages A collection of 20 interesting unusual and highly literate travel essays that have been published in Saturday Night within the past two years Two of the essays one on Bordeaux one on Corsica are by Gait himself He is an associate editor of the magazine Historical Atlas of Canada Volume HI edited by Donald Kerr and Holdsworth University of Toronto Press 196 pages Subtitled Addressing the Twentieth Century this ex traordinary combination of Cana dian history and geography covers the period from 1891 to 1961 in two parts with 1929 as the dividing line It contains the con tributions of more than scholars and was designed by cartographer Geoffrey J Mat thews Greatest Hockey Stories by Dick Beddoes of Canada pages At sports writer Beddoes has ac quired an abundance of anec dotes about the worlds fastest game and its people and here he relates scores of them in his distinctive style Vincent Egan Is a Toronto- based travel columnist and book reviewer Thomson Newsservice Georgetown Onl 8779896 Passive Reducing Salon SUN TAN SESSIONS 8734907 Rear Entrance Georgetown Nells DRIVING SCHOOL JAN FEB 7th MONDAYS A WEDNESDAYS PM Christmas Gift Certificates Now On Sale For Information About Courses or Private Lessons phone BREAKFAST WITH SANTA SAT0RDAY DECEMBER 1590 KIDS Come and Enjoy Breakfast with Santa in the Banquet Room Two sittings 900 a 1 1 00 am See You There Ticket On Sale it Oxbow Books Victoria Lane and Fletchers Beginning December 12th COME D0WHT0WN AND ENJOY THE CHRISTMAS CAROLLEHS THURSDAY DECEMBER 13 HUM PM PARK SCHOOL SATURDAY DECEMBER GEORGETOWN CHORAL S0CETY CHOIR