Andrew Nikiforuk's great book on the tar sands available for free

by Charlie Smith on March 18th, 2009 at 12:13 PM

In December, Georgia Straight books editor Brian Lynch asked me to compile a list of my five favourite books of 2008.

It wasn't easy narrowing the selection to five because there were lots of terrific nonfiction books published last year.

But to me, an obvious choice was Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, by Calgary writer Andrew Nikiforuk. I was intrigued by how Nikiforuk linked the development of the tar sands in Alberta to the decline of Canada's democracy.

This set Tar Sands apart from most other books I've read about peak oil and climate change.

Greystone Books and the David Suzuki Foundation copublished the book. And Greystone is making the PDF version available for free on its Web site until Friday (March 20). Act quickly. Read it and send it to your friends--especially to those who might be inclined to vote Conservative in the next federal election.