Don’t Never Tell Nobody Nothin’ No How. The real story of west coast rum running. Rick James. 2018.  The author of Westcoast Chronicles has put together a good local history book, a history that was kept very secret.  I grew up in Fort Langley and knew of Harry Reifel  with his nearby  three Bellavista Farms  one of which had a covered thoroughbred race track.  Harry, who became immensely rich at it along with the Bronfmans,  plays a pretty key role in the commercialization of the West Coast rum running, which had its financial centre in Vancouver and operated out of many islands, and bays in the West Coast.  The Chief Skugat, one of two famous boats left from the run running days is now moored near Fort Langley.  Some of the other boats from those days I have seen cruising in BC over the years as luxury vessels.  A great story and very meaningful in how the West Coast survived the Depression. Rum running supported a host of businesses pouring jobs and money into the local economy.  It was a hoot to read that many of the mansions of Victoria’s Oak Bay were built with rum running proceeds.

1963 – The Man in the High Castle. Philip K. Dick. Picked this up after seeing the TV Series.  The Nazi’s and Japanese won WWII and carved up the world.  The story takes place in North America  which is German/Reich on the East Coast and Japanese on the West Coast with a neutral zone between.  Its quite a well done tale with lots of complex characters, plot twists and serious philosophical thoughts.   But it is just tenuously related *( with the original premise and most characters)  to the TV shows. Which makes the book a more interesting and different read.  Consider this quite intelligent science fiction.

why does E-mc²? (and why should we care?) Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw. 2009.  Two English physicists/instructors (PhD)  have written an introductory text on the present theories of the elementary particles. They have been ingenious through starting with work of Newton, Faraday and Maxwell et al, then developing with Einstein  and the successive researchers taking the reader right up to the Higgs Bosun particle work. It is not a book to rush through but if you follow along the whole series of theory and relevant equations makes much more sense than before. They are clever enough to give the reader breathing space when getting into more detail.  Despite knowing the ending, you are pulled through just to see how this all came about.  Well worth the read.

The Prosperity Paradox. How Innovations Can Life Nations Our of Poverty. Clayton M. Christensen. 2019.  ISBN 9780062851826.    Christensen is the most respected name in  any discussion of innovation with numerous relevant books to his name.  ( E.g. The Innovators Dilemma). He turns his attention to how can you turn around poverty . Using his theory of Jobs That Need to Be Done, he reverses our view from providing infrastructure first ( Banking, Ports, water systems  justice, anticorruption etc) to what inhibits the day to day life of the common man. He provides many case studies from American history and modern third world entrepreneurs who had to “do it all ” in order to build their companies, and put in place the infrastructure needed.  and examples of huge failed projects.   His point of view just makes so much sense, his chapter of corruption shining a fresh light on the subject.   Very readable with his detailed  footnotes that are as valuable as the text.

Letters to My Daughters. Business advice for entrepreneurs. Linda Hollyer. 2018. ISBN 9781775393207.  I was gifted this book and am so glad to have received it.  The lessons are familiar but they all bear repeating. For any business person the key insight is the woman to woman view, whether it is the questions or the clarity of the answers.  The book is inspiring (as the author intended) and a very easy read. But it is still powerful.