Victoria: The Insider's Guide

David Mattison is a librarian with the Provincial Archives and Records
Service Library in Victoria.

This is an insider’s guide because the author is a Victoria native.
The layout is traditional tourbook: how to get here, where to stay,
where to eat, what to see, where to shop, and how to amuse the kids;
entertainment and public recreation; the sights outside Victoria proper;
and the fine print of law and order. Prices are given for accommodation,
and restaurants are rated as “cheap,” “moderate,” and
“expensive” via an icon of the downtown Victoria streetlamp.

Amply illustrated with photographs and artwork by local painter Robert
Amos, The Insider’s Guide features chatty reviews, a bibliography of
writings about Victoria (including a competing guidebook), an index, and
two maps. Also, Chris Gower has contributed two essays, one on a walking
tour of the posh Rockland neighborhood, and the other on a history of
gardening in Victoria. This book is pleasant and easy to read. As with
all guidebooks, however, it is out of date a year after publication.
Perhaps we can look forward to a sequel.