A picture is worth a thousand words

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This article was published 03/12/2006 (7121 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THEY say a picture is worth a thousand words.

When it comes to gift books, the pictures and words add up to something even greater.

Each year, a new stock of handsomely illustrated tomes are

produced for the book-loving public.

They amount to a huge poke in the eye to those who predict that books and reading will soon become a thing of the past.

Coffee-table books, which cover every subject imaginable,

are especially targeted for the gift-giving season.

That’s because the right book for the right person will provide hours of enjoyment and inspiration.

We asked Free Press writers and freelance book reviewers to browse our cabinet of this season’s coffee-table books.

Here is what they found:

Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook

The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home

By Martha Stewart

Random House/Clarkson Potter, 719 pages, $55

IF you want to know how to organize a closet or patch a leaky pipe, fold a shirt, polish the silver or unclog a drain, America’s domestic diva has a solution to make the job easier.

The book is encyclopedic in scope. Stewart goes from room to room, from floor to ceiling, leaving no corners of the house out of her organized, efficient and neatly tidied gaze.

This comprehensive home handbook is illustrated with black-and-white photos from Stewart’s gorgeous New York and Maine estates (though not her former prison cell).

But this book isn’t just for Martha Stewart fans. It is also a great resource for homeowners, offering practical advice on an array of household maintenance chores, accompanied by material and supply charts, tool descriptions, and step-by-step illustrations to guide you through each task. — Cheryl Binning

The World of the Polar Bear

By Norbert Rosing

Firefly, 204 pages, $45

EVEN if you have never been to the west coast of Hudson Bay, this remarkable book will make you feel as though you have been there.

Norbert Rosing has been fascinated with polar bears since 1983. A frequent contributor to National Geographic, he has published a real gem.

With 175 colour photographs and four colour gatefolds plus a map, this is an engaging look at the great white beasts of the North.

The season-by-season approach, with features on other wildlife sharing this threatened world, makes this far more than a coffee-table book.

If you get it as a gift for someone, you may not be able to part with it. — Randy Midzain

Going Downtown

A History of Winnipeg’s Portage Avenue

By Russ Gourluck

Great Plains Publications, 290 pages, $30

ANY Winnipegger who recalls the shopping, dining and nightlife of downtown between 1930 and 1980 will get a nostalgic kick out of this engrossing history, packed with more than 400 photos.

Gourluck, who also wrote the history of Eaton’s, traces the businesses on once-vibrant Portage and its key cross streets block by block. The book will spark memories of long-demolished buildings, colourful downtown characters and beloved institutions like Childs Restaurant and Picardy’s lunch counter. There’s even the Marlborough Park Master, a 1950s push-button parkade that moved cars by remote control.

The book is ill-served by cheap design, however. Going Downtown deserved better than its flimsy cover, tinting of black-and-white photos either dusty pink or bluish, and frequent use of white text on a too-light background. — Alison Mayes

Guinness World Book of Records 2007

Guinness World Records, $36

THIS is the latest edition of the popular book of the most, the least, the biggest and the smallest.

It is full of tons of information and bright pictures. The large format book, with its electric blue cover, contains a new Record-Breakers Hall of Fame that highlights people who have accumulated the most Guinness records.

There are sections with records that were achieved in a minute or a day, and activities for the reader — a memory challenge, suggestions for records that can be attempted at home, and more.

If you need to know about the world’s oldest piece of cake, or how long it takes to pop 100 balloons, this book is for you. It comes with eight trading cards with weird and wonderful information. — Harriet Zaidman

The Maple Leaf Forever

A Celebration of Canadian Symbols

By Donna and Nigel Hutchins

Boston Mills Press, 224 pages, $60

WHICH Canadian symbol says it all about Canada? Is it the Mounties, the maple leaf, the beaver?

We all know that Canadiana symbols exist. In a fun and entertaining way, this gorgeous book jams hundreds of Canadian iconic images and memories into its pages.

You will be seeing red and white before you can put down it down

Ironically, though, it was printed in Singapore. — Joe Bryksa

Spy

The Funny Years

By Graydon Carter, Kurt Anderson and George Kalogerakis

Miramax Books, $52

SMUG Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter must be thankful that Spy, the magazine he and New York mag columnist Kurt Anderson created in 1986, folded just over a decade later as the Internet took off.

That’s because, as Carter and Anderson declare in their introduction to Spy — The Funny Years, “We didn’t start Spy in order to become the sorts of people the magazine specialized in teasing and satirizing, but that’s pretty much the way it’s worked out.” Indeed.

Less than a decade after it folded in January 1998, a Spy retrospective comes across as both a premature vanity project and valuable introduction to a trail-blazing, New-York-centric chronicle of the late 1980s and early ’90s.

And Spy‘s legacy clearly lives on in magazines like Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly (tiny floating heads, ‘charticles’) and on websites like Defamer, Radar and Gawker, which snidely noted that “Before Spy, magazines weren’t even printed on paper.” — Shane Minkin

The Human Body

A Visual Guide

By Beverly McMillan

Firefly Books, 304 pages, $30

FIREFLY has produced another beautiful science book for the reference library.

Filled with full-colour scientific illustrations and photographs (including some amazing microscopic shots) that illustrate the body systems being described, this is an informative guide to the way the human body works — and sometimes doesn’t work.

Written in plain, but not unsophisticated, language by Beverly McMillan, this straightforward book is ideal for biology buffs aged 12 and beyond.

Parents could use this guide as a jumping off point for questions from younger children, although some of those youngsters might be rendered squeamish by all the detail.

— Wendy Burke

The Group of Seven

and Tom Thomson

By David P. Silcox

Firefly, 441 pages, $50

THIS collection from Canada’s most famous artists includes many rarely seen paintings as well as the signature paintings that dazzle our imagination.

It is designed so that the information in each chapter precedes the art. The paintings are set on a white matte paper that allows the richness of the colour and texture of the brushstroke to come through.

The material is divided into 10 sections, including the main geographical regions of Canada, from the East to the West and the Arctic, pictures from the First World War, cities, towns and villages, still life and portraits.

The historical information is concisely written, offering insight into the men who led the movement of Canadian art into new, daring, interpretive and abstract directions.

This beautiful book will be appreciated whenever it is opened. It’s a gift, in more ways than can be expressed. — Harriet Zaidman

Work

The World in Photographs

By Ferdinand Protzman

National Geographic Society, 352 pages, $47

FROM its seemingly endless archive, the National Geographic Society has pulled together yet another astonishing array of photographs spanning from the early 1920s to the present day to look into the roots of worldwide economy.

Century-old textile mills to automobile and airplane factories of the new millennium are covered in a well-organized and produced book full of large photos from some of the best photographers in the craft’s history.

Author Ferdinand Protzman does a formidable job of summing up the numerous economic, social and cultural aspects of the world’s working population, which includes every breathing human on the planet. — Mike Aporius

Zamboni

The Coolest Machines on Ice

By Eric Dregni

Voyageur Press, 128 pages, $25

WOW your friends at cocktail parties with the full story of the Zamboni.

This historical documentation of the funny-looking square box on wheels that smoothes out arena ice surfaces worldwide is complete with easy to read text and wonderful photographs.

The historical journey starts in Paramount, Calif., where Frank J. Zamboni invented the machine.

Old newspaper ads, company logos throughout the years, and original drawings are included. — Boris Minkevich

The Other Side of War

Women’s Stories of Survival & Hope

By Zainab Salbi

Random House, 255 pages, $37

FAR from your usual coffee-table fare, this eye-opening collection chronicles the horrific brutalities experienced by women in wartorn countries across the globe, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Afghanistan.

The women’s accounts — of rape and disfigurement, displacement and refugee camps — are deeply affecting, made all the more powerful by their amazing resilience and desire to rebuild.

Artfully designed, and filled with intimate photographs, this compilation is a moving look at survival, community and strength in the face of destruction.

— Lindsey Wiebe

Shrines

Images of Italian Worship

Photographs by Steven Rothfeld

By Frances Mayes

Doubleday, 144 pages, $24

STEVEN Rothfeld may have taken the photographs for one of Frances Mayes’ bestselling Tuscany books, but this time it’s the photographer who leads the way through a pictorial look at the amateur-created shrines seen throughout Italy.

Mayes supplies the introduction and other bits of text sprinkled through the book, but for the most part this is a photographic work showing the shrines created by ordinary Italians as a tribute to their faith.

Only an index at the back shows which community the shrines are in. The exact location is known only to the photographer and the family whose residence houses it.

— Kevin Rollason

Arctic Spirit

Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum

By Ingo Hessel

Douglas and McIntyre, 240 pages, $65

INGO Hessel, an Inuit art consultant in Ottawa, allows us to look at a selection of some of the more than 3,700 Inuit art works that have been donated to the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz., by one couple, Dan and Martha Albrecht.

Dan Albrecht was the president, CEO and chairman of Buehler Ltd., a worldwide company manufacturing scientific equipment for analysis of materials. He has spent decades collecting aboriginal artworks.

Hessel is also the museum’s curator of Inuit art. Through beautiful large photographs of the carvings, drawings and other works, all produced in Canada, he takes the reader on an intimate guided tour of pieces selected for a travelling exhibition. As well, he includes commentary about the works from many of the artists themselves.

The collection is called the finest collection of Inuit art ever assembled — the couple collected it in less than a decade — but Winnipeggers can compare that claim with the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s larger and much older collection.

— Kevin Rollason

The Canadian Hockey Atlas

By Stephen Cole

Doubleday Canada, 400 pages, $60

THIS unique atlas journeys to Canada’s hockey hotbeds to celebrate local lore and hometown pride. Instead of organizing it once again around teams, eras or positions, Cole groups NHL players by the province or territory of their birth.

Flip to the chapter on Manitoba — from where 206 NHL players have haled — and be enthralled by lively stories about the colourful hockey past of Brandon, Flin Flon, St. Boniface, Selkirk and Winnipeg.

Not only are there fascinating archival photographs but the material is fresh. There are references to the MTS Centre, Hayley Wickenhesier and the musical Bombertown, which the town of Flin Flon produced in 1999 to commemorate the home team’s improbable 1957 Memorial Cup victory over the vaunted Ottawa-Hull Canadiens.

The Canadian Hockey Atlas deserves to be first star of Christmas hockey books.

— Kevin Prokosh

Aviation Century

War and Peace in the Air

By Ron Dick and Dan Patterson

Boston Mills Press, 352 pages, $50

THE fifth and final volume of the Aviation Century series picks up the story of military aviation after Second World War and speeds into current day aircraft development.

With more than 580 colour and black-and-white photographs, this is an impressive volume geared for the aviation buff whose breath is taken away by the sight of a MiG-23 cockpit.

American author Ron Dick’s stories about notable flights will appeal to a wide range of readers. Under a heading of Blunders, Luck and Judgment is the story of the Gimli Glider, the out-of-fuel Air Canada 767 that put down safely on an abandoned RCAF base near Gimli in 1984.

— Kevin Prokosh

Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Expect … the Unexpected!

Ripley Publishing, 256 pages, $35

RIPLEY’S famous cartoons have been around for almost 100 years detailing some of the world’s weirdest facts, so it’s not hard to believe that the company’s latest book should focus in on hundreds of these.

Many of the photographs are of exhibits displayed at Ripley’s worldwide network of museums, while others are of the strange people, animals and events which seem to populate our world.

Whether it’s a reproduction of the Mona Lisa created from various brownings of toast, a rooster that lived for months without a head, or a restaurant in China where patrons sit on toilets fully clothed, this book will deliver hours of fun for readers of all ages.

Especially interesting are the archival photographs taken by Ripley’s through the years, showing that weird facts aren’t a modern invention. And for people who want to make a contribution, Ripley’s offers readers a chance to be part of the next book by sending in their own Believe It or Nots.

— Kevin Rollason

Make it Right

Inside Home Renovation

with Canada’s Most Trusted Contractor

By Mike Holmes

HarperCollins, 216 pages, $40

If you have any interest at all in home renovation, you’ve heard about Mike Holmes. His Holmes on Homes (HGTV) is one of the hottest shows on TV.

Now, the same down-to-earth, folksy advice he doles out in his show is condensed into 216 very readable, very informative pages on planning, executing and paying for home renovations.

From nuggets such as “Always go better than code,” exhorting renovators to choose materials and techniques that exceed the minimum set by the building code, to extensive “eight things that should be in your contract,” Holmes tells homeowners everything they need to know to hire a professional renovator or home builde.

Though it’s not designed as a do-it-yourself manual, it is a must-read for anyone contemplating renovations or buying a new home.

— Kelly Taylor

Great Couples of the Bible

Translation by Brian McNeil

Novalis, 191 pages, $40

THIS beautiful book offers a mixture of great artistic reproductions, history and theology.

It’s not quite what you would think from the title. The couples range from what we would expect, such as Adam and Eve and David and Bathsheba, to tales of eternal love, pragmatic unions and lust and betrayal.

The text is very interesting and anything but preachy as the tales are set in historical context, both in time and in theology.

It is a stimulation for the intellect and a feast for the eyes.

— Gail MacAulay

U2 by U2

By Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr., with Neil McCormick

HarperCollins, 350 pages, $50

FANS of Irish musical superstars U2 will rejoice in this exhaustive, detailed sharing of the band’s own story, from the members’ teenage schooldays in Dublin in 1975 to their ongoing international celebrity status 30 years later.

The text was created from more than 150 hours of interviews with the four musicians and manager Paul McGuiness, conducted over the course of two years by Daily Telegraph rock critic Neil McCormick.

There is little narrative. Instead, as promised, this is the story of the band members in their own words. They talk — and talk, and talk — about their origins, their music, their faith, personal lives and fame.

There is candour and wit; there is hubris and nostalgia. And there is a lot of detail.

The weighty volume is also pleasing to look at, including hundreds of black-and-white and colour photos from the band’s own archives. For loyal fans, a treat.

— Linda Rosborough

Pollen

The Hidden Sexuality of Flowers

By Rob Kesseler and Wolfgang Stuppy

Firefly, 264 pages, $60

Seeds

Time Capsules of Life

By Rob Kesseler and Wolfgang Stuppy

Firefly, 264 pages, $60

THIS gorgeous pair of coffee-table books provides the perfect marriage of art and science.

Neither is a lightweight when it comes to text and size. They’re very informative. If you don’t have a botanical background, you’ll be amazed at the complexity of plant life.

Even more wondrous are the absolutely fantastic photographs that are so beautiful that you could frame them. They are microscopic photographs enlarged and coloured with beauty. One can only marvel at the infinite variety of nature’s design in both form and purpose.

— Gail MacAulay

Hockey

A People’s History

By Michael McKinley

McClelland & Stewart, 346 pages, $60

EVERY night is Hockey Night in Canada with this lavishly illustrated and readable companion volume to the CBC series at your side.

There’s no delay of game penalties as this noted hockey expert takes readers through the many highs and lows of the sport’s textured past, devoting full chapters to some of the most important events in modern hockey history.

Fanatical fans will go into overtime as they pour over the legacy of our national religion: speed, brutality and dozens of colourful characters dotting its past.

Go, Jets, go!

— Ian Stewart

The Geist Atlas of Canada

Meat Maps and Other Strange Cartographies

Compiled by Melissa Edwards

Arsenal Pulp Press, 128 pages, $25

THIS is an amusing assortment of Canadian theme maps, chock full of places you’ve never heard of, such as Argue, Man., in the Canadian Map of Conflict; or Bleak Island, Man., in The Angst Map of Canada.

It’s also full of trivia: Who knew we had 2,611 Tim Hortons’ outlets?

The book’s charm lies in its oddball themes: The Canadian Map of Haircuts, for example, which features Manitoba locales Headingley, Hairy Man Point, Brokenhead and Jackhead.

One quibble, though. Some of the maps don’t have provincial boundaries, so it’s tough to pinpoint where exactly some of these places are.

Which is pretty funny, for a book of maps.

— Margo Goodhand

Life Platinum Anniversary Collection

70 Years of Extraordinary Photographs

Life Books, 304 pages, $40

THIS book serves as a testament to the moving power of Life magazine and its prominent place in our cultural history. It also underlines how far out of the limelight the magazine is today.

In this edition, many of Life‘s most famous photos are elegantly collected and introduced. Unfortunately, most of the book’s inspiring images belong to the middle of the last century — from the end of the Great Depression to the ’70s. In and out of publication since that time, Life has failed to be at the forefront of history.

That failure is reflected in this book. Photos from recent years — of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or the 2004 Boston Red Sox curse-breaking World Series victory — are relatively ordinary representations of those major events.

If you don’t have any other Life magazine compilations then buy this book for its scope and narrative and presentation. And yet, if you do have another book published by Life, or if you’ve otherwise collected many of the magazine’s famous photos, then the value of this edition diminishes.

And if you want the best of photography’s last five or 10 or 15 years, this might not be the book you’re looking for at all.

— Joe Paraskevas

Nightwatch

A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe

By Terence Dickinson

Firefly, 192 pages, $35

THIS fourth edition of Dickinson’s coil-bound guide to the skies is a perfect gift for amateur astronomers. It’s chock full of practical information, beautiful photographs and clearly-written prose.

Dickinson, an Ontario-based astronomer and science writer, transfers his passion for the night skies into a book that is accessible for both beginners and those searching for a more detailed explanation of the universe.

You’ll find tips on how to select a first telescope, lists of astronomy conventions and information on choosing binoculars. This book could mark the starting point of a lifelong hobby.

— Lindor Reynolds

The Rolling Stones in the Beginning

By Bent Rej

Firefly, 320 pages, $50

DANISH newspaper photographer Bent Rej joined the Rolling Stones in 1965 to document its Scandinavian leg of a European tour.

He stayed for a year. In the process he captured the band as it matured from a London R & B club band to an international corporate machine that’s still going strong.

Rej’s colour and black-and-white photographs catch the drug-free Brian Jones-era Rolling Stones at more innocent times on stage.

He also gets behind the stage and into the boys’ homes before they evolved into the long-haired Midnight Ramblers we’ve come to adore.

The photographs are beautiful and Rej’s notes insightful. This would be a welcome addition to any fan’s library.

— Bruce Owen

Simon Schama’s Power of Art

By Simon Schama

Viking, 448 pages, $60

THE esteemed New York art critic and historian has produced a provocative textbook as much as a coffee-table book.

In arguing that great visual art always aspires to the opposite of politeness, Simon Schama goes to bat for eight of his favourite artists.

Most of them, like Caravaggio, Van Gogh and Picasso are figures of general renown. A couple others, such as the 17th-century sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the 20th-century abstract painter Mark Rothko, are better known within the art world.

What they all have in common, Schama says, is that they “grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure and then proceed to rearrange your sense of reality.”

— Morley Walker

Smitten

A Kitten’s Guide to Happiness

By Rachel Hale

Bulfinch Press, 128 pages, $29

IT is gratifying to find a book that gives you practical tips about gaining happiness.

It also has a lot of doggone great kitten pictures by that leading animal portrait photographer Rachel Hale.

From New Zealand, Hale obviously knows her subjects very well. She includes quotes by such famous feline lovers as Mae West and Katharine Hepburn.

Each kitten is dutifully identified by name. Thomas, a six- week-old model, is likely to go on to a great career in animal modelling.

— Lynn Crothers

National Geographic

Concise History of the World:

An Illustrated Time Line

Edited by Neil Kagan

Random House, 416 pages, $54

THIS guide to history contains all things National Geographic, including colourful maps, lush photos of people, places and artifacts and lively essays.

What makes this book so useful is its structure. It is divided into eight major historical time periods from prehistory to the present.

Each chapter begins with an essay that gives an overview of the time period. Charts, time lines and picture essays give the reader key historical events and put them into context with each other at a glance.

The book is riddled with interesting historical tidbits and trivia, along with the big, important facts. Neil Kagan has wrangled the work of eight authors and a slew of photographers into a fascinating look at the world through time.

— Wendy Burke

TV Land Legends

Photographs by Annie Liebovitz, Mark Seliger, Herb Ritts, David LaChappelle and more

Pocket Books, 192 pages, $45

LOVERS of the boob tube, young and old, will cherish this spectacular, pictoral tribute to the celebrities of the small screen, captured through the lenses of these brilliant photographers.

The stars are all here: Uncle Miltie, Charlie McCarthy, the Odd Couple, Lucy, Carson, Cronkite, Hawkeye, Gilligan, Monty Python, the gang from Friends and even those new gals on the block, the Desperate Housewives.

On one page, Jackie Gleason performs a gig in black and white, while Muhammad Ali stares down legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell on another.

Then there’s Jack Benny giving Marilyn Monroe a playful squeeze and Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy sharing a mushy Muppet moment.

The book includes essays by Billy Crystal and Mary Tyler Moore and quotes from celebrities. But it’s the pictures that make this book a surefire hit for the living room. If you flip the pages like you flip channels, there’s always something good on here.

— Jason Bell

Birds

A Visual Guide

By Joanna Burger

Firefly, 304 pages, $30

THIS is a beautiful collection of 650 photographs, illustrations and diagrams with thorough, clearly-written explanations about birds from every continent.

The material is divided into sections: birds and their world, biology and behaviour, kinds of birds, distribution and habitat, adaptation for survival and human impact.

Each section is further subdivided into two-page chapters, laid out neatly to accommodate large pictures that will fascinate adults and children.

The stunning pictures alone will make this book a welcome gift, sure to be enjoyed over and over by casual observers and knowledgeable birdwatchers alike.

— Harriet Zaidman

New Atlas of the Moon

By Thierry Legault and Serge Brunier

Firefly, 128 pages, $55

ENORMOUS black-and-white photographs grace this large format, coiled atlas of the moon.

It includes close-ups and descriptions of topographical features. There are also overlays that identify key features in the photographs of the day-by-day changes throughout the month, whether they are observed by the eye, through binoculars or a telescope.

The changing moon is featured on the right, while scientific information, anecdotes from mythology and the history of astronomy and space travel are recorded on the right. The labels on the overlays include page references for further reading.

Moonwatching will be an exciting activity with these precise descriptions and instructions.

— Harriet Zaidman

André Biéler

An Artist’s Life and Times

By Frances K. Smith

Firefly, 355 pages, $70

THIS beautifully illustrated monograph on one of Canada’s foremost artists is a must-have for art history buffs. But it would also make a fine gift for anyone nostalgic for Quebec’s rural past.

Biéler was younger than the better-known Group of Seven artists, and he chose people as his subject matter rather than windswept wilderness.

The Swiss-born, bilingual agnostic had an outsider’s eye for his subjects, and, later in life, laid the groundwork for the Canada Council for the Arts.

Smith, a curator and longtime friend of the artist, originally published the text in 1980. The new edition has been lovingly supplemented by family photos and a touching DVD documentary by Biéler’s grandson.

— Helen Fallding

America (The Book)

A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy, Teacher’s Edition

By Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin, David Javerbaum

Warner Books, 227 pages, $20

FOR many Canadians, American history can be duller than Stephen Harper’s socks, but in the hands of Jon Stewart and his Daily Show writers the subject is brought to life with real facts supported by outright lies, distorted truths and satirical digs that are often laugh-out-loud funny.

The softcover version of last year’s original contains plenty of colourful charts, diagrams, games and little known facts (due to an early typo, for example, America nearly became a “Democrazy.”) to help the reader learn how liberty came to be south of the 49th parallel and why robots might someday rule the country.

The teacher’s edition includes corrections by a college professor of some of the most blatant BS and is not intended for professional teachers (although classroom activities are included).

Finally, a book that caters to Daily Show fans, history buffs with a sense of humour and anyone who ever wondered what U.S. Supreme Court justices look like naked.

— Rob Williams

A Canadian Saturday Night

Hockey and the Culture of a Country

By Andrew Podnieks

Douglas & McIntyre, 135 pages, $27

SATURDAY nights from October through to April mean one thing to a great many Canadians — hockey.

This collection of two-page accounts of all things hockey runs the gamut for both professional players and community centre hockey fanatics.

Subjects covered include the origins of the hat trick, hockey-card collecting, backyard rinks, the Richard Riot and Peter Puck.

There are also some pop culture items, including Wayne Gretzky’s wedding and Pittsburgh Penguins sniper Sidney Crosby re-enacting his childhood practice of shooting pucks at his grandmother’s dryer on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

— Geoff Kirbyson

Major League Baseball Hometown Heroes

The Most Outstanding Players

in Baseball History, Club by Club

Random House, 160 pages, $40

THIS picture-heavy list of the greatest players to have played for current MLB squads is hit and miss.

The hits are the chapters on teams steeped in history, such as the New York Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds.

The misses are sections on teams whose history dates back just a decade or two.

Fans of Canadian teams will be satisfied with the treatment of the Toronto Blue Jays, but how is it that Brian Schneider is listed behind Gary Carter as one of the greatest players in the Washington Nationals/Montreal organization over such obvious choices as Andre Dawson and Steve Rogers?

When did they start granting sports immortality to players whose career high is 12 home runs in one season?

— Geoff Kirbyson