This is the story of how the Canadian landmass evolved -- piece by piece -- from a long-lost continent some four billion years ago into one of the most spectacular and geologically significant areas on Earth.

Cool facts for aspiring rock-hounds! Canada is a vast country with a diverse geography, which makes it a fantastic place to discover rocks and minerals. This book is crammed with cool and interesting facts perfect for the aspiring rock collector. Did you know that Canada is the third-leading producer of diamonds in the world? Do you know which Canadian Universities have minerals named after them? Or that montroyalite was named after Mont Royal, Quebec?

Being a Canadian carries with it a tangible sense of living on the edge of a vast barren interior. Only named as such in 1883, the Canadian Shield is an empty immensity of lakes, bogs, rivers, forest and protruding ribs of hard Precambrian crystalline rock that covers more than half of the total land area of Canada. This book traces the geologic evolution of the Shield, its first tentative exploration by humans starting 11,000 years ago as the last great ice sheets withdrew, its changing economic fortunes as Europeans penetrated its remote rocky vastnesses for furs and metals, and its transformation in the twentieth century into a national icon to Canadians. Regarded as 'barren' and of no value, much of the Shield was given away in 1670 to a single London-based fur trading company, the Hudson Bay Company, who jealously guarded its northern domain until 1867. This two hundred year long monopoly created a virtual government over a huge piece of North America. Without the HBC, much of it would have passed into American hands and there would have been no 'Canadian' Shield or country called Canada. As a nation, we are indebted to hard rock.

Discover fantastic landmarks from coast to coast! Canada is a large, diverse and beautiful country. This latest book in the Canada Close Up series focuses on the history of many unique and well-known Canadian geographical landmarks, and the processes that shaped them. This book is crammed full of fun and interesting facts that will keep children entertained as they learn about: Niagara Falls The Rocky Mountains Mount Logan The Alberta Badlands The Bay of Fundy Mount Logan Gros Morne National Park Barnes Ice Cap The Athabasca Sand Dunes Manicouagan Crater

Author, activist, and TED speaker Ashton Applewhite has written a rousing manifesto calling for an end to discrimination and prejudice on the basis of age. In our youth obsessed culture, we’re bombarded by media images and messages about the despairs and declines of our later years. Beauty and pharmaceutical companies work overtime to convince people to purchase products that will retain their youthful appearance and vitality. Wrinkles are embarrassing. Gray hair should be colored and bald heads covered with implants. Older minds and bodies are too frail to keep up with the pace of the modern working world and olders should just step aside for the new generation. Ashton Applewhite once held these beliefs too until she realized where this prejudice comes from and the damage it does. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces her journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. Explaining the roots of ageism in history and how it divides and debases, Applewhite examines how ageist stereotypes cripple the way our brains and bodies function, looks at ageism in the workplace and the bedroom, exposes the cost of the all-American myth of independence, critiques the portrayal of elders as burdens to society, describes what an all-age-friendly world would look like, and offers a rousing call to action. It’s time to create a world of age equality by making discrimination on the basis of age as unacceptable as any other kind of bias. Whether you’re older or hoping to get there, this book will shake you by the shoulders, cheer you up, make you mad, and change the way you see the rest of your life. Age pride! “Wow. This book totally rocks. It arrived on a day when I was in deep confusion and sadness about my age. Everything about it, from my invisibility to my neck. Within four or five wise, passionate pages, I had found insight, illumination, and inspiration. I never use the word empower, but this book has empowered me.” —Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author

A resource for understanding the regions geology and seeing the evidence of important processes typical of the unique geological system in Jasper National Park.