𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑵𝒐𝒘! 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑱𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆.
𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡: 𝐴𝑛 𝐼𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐺𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑘, 𝑏𝑦 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑦.
Buy 5 copies of What’s the Point, give 4 away as gifts, and keep the fifth for yourself. Veteran Nova Scotian writer Steven Laffoley is the author of lucky 13 previous books, and his skills and deep knowledge are on full display in this biography of Halifax’s most popular park.
Steven taught me something new on just about every page of this charming guide to several thousand years of human history. He will answer every question you have about a rogue ruin you stumbled upon, or a path your dog bolted down. Steven structures the book as a series of ambles through the woods, so you too can stuff a copy in your pocket and let him enlighten you.
I loved to learn that the original path from Halifax ran along the shore, through what today is the industrial docks, and along to the lower parking lot. You will learn road safety is nothing new, as the book contains harrowing tales of fatal horse-and-carriage crashes, and the grim ghosts that may haunt a pond or two.
You’ll learn the full story behind famous spots, like the stone Point Pleasant Lodge and the memorials, but also deep cuts, like the surprisingly delightful history of the Glasgow Corp street lights, why the gates to the park are now across a street and opening the wrong way, and the results of Joe Howe’s last gun duel in the park.
Nature gets its turn, and not just the yappy dogs, but an account of the flora and fauna, ancient and introduced, and all the animals within the woods.
Our guide Steven is always intelligent, often funny, and occasionally philosophical. There are enough points in What’s the Point to fill a 500-page book, but Steven has action-packed it into 171. He takes his walks in the winter, so now you will see the same ice, the same slippery slopes, as he does, juxtaposed with all that has gone before us.
He promises a solo park walk will leave you “calmer and paradoxically less alone,” and the same can be said for reading What’s the Point.