Waterfalls: Nova Scotia's Masterpieces.

Randall White is the author of Voice of Region: On the Long Journey to
Senate Reform in Canada, Too Good to Be True: Toronto in the 1920s, and
Global Spin: Probing the Globalization Debate.

This visual gem should be placed into cars’ glove compartments for tourists driving along the back roads searching for some of Nova Scotia’s bonanza of waterfalls. After leafing through 83 pages of photographs, I felt confident I could find each and every one of the 42 waterfalls, thanks to a keyed map at the back plus a directions index coded to each fall’s number and brief but very specific instructions on which road to take and, if on private property, whether access should be procured from the owner. Each fall was photographed twice. The larger picture showed the actual drop and a smaller one showed us a slightly more detailed view.

Veteran wildlife writer Allan Billard’s intimate and conversational style is a perfect match for photographer Donna Barnett’s crisp shots. I’m reasonably certain that Nova Scotia’s tourism department, which along with two federal grants helped with the publication costs, will have plenty of copies on hand for sale to summer visitors. I just wish my own province of New Brunswick, which promotes itself as “the Picture Province,” had similar material available. Perhaps this superb little volume will prompt it to act.