Dana Bass Solomon

CEO of Hollyhock, hollyhock.ca, registration@hollyhock.ca

by ERICA GEHRKE

What book is on your bedside table?
The Speed of Light by Elizabeth Rosner (Ballentine Books, $19.95).

How did you come across the book?
The author was recommended to us at Hollyhock as an extraordinary presenter.

Page-turner or doorstop?
Definitely a page-turner!

Would you put it on your Desert Island list?
Absolutely, it is one of those books I think about many times after having read it.

How would you describe the book in one word?
Haunting

If you had to design a poster for the book, what would it look like?
All glowy and yellow and orange. Maybe with an old wooden chair to express the history, and to suggest the untold story may be greater than the difficult truth.

What’s the main idea/theme of this book?
A haunting tale of timeless secrets about three unique people who overcome the tragedies of the past and reconnect with one another and the world around them.

List three new words you learned in the book.
Gegenschein (counter-glow; faint patch of light), deliquescent (becoming liquid on exposure to air), triple-point (the particular temperature and pressure at which the solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of a given substance are all at equilibrium with one another).

Who would you recommend the book to?

People who enjoy complexity and depth and an excellent quick read at the same time.

What’s the paragraph re-read factor, on a scale of one to ten?
nine-juicy! But if it means hard to understand then a two.

By Erica Gehrke, our Circus Trapeze Artist and Star Associate Editor.

AGELESS: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones by Suzanne Somers (Crown, $33) An inspiring, medically validated approach to the aging process.

SWEETNESS IN THE BELLY by Camilla Gibb (Anchor Canada, $21) A British Muslim woman’s quest to maintain faith and love through revolution and social upheaval.

FOODS THAT FIGHT CANCER: Preventing and Treating Cancer through Diet by Denis Gingras (M & S, $30) A highly accessible and practical text authored by one of the world’s foremost experts in the groundbreaking area of how food chemistry can fight cancer.

THE BONE-BUILDING SOLUTION by Sam Graci (Wiley, $22) A comprehensive guide to building bone health, providing advice for the teenage years through the sixties and beyond on the prevention and reversing of osteopenia and osteoporosis.

THE BOOK OF SECRETS: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life by Deepak Chopra (Crown Publishing, $21) A collection of insights and wisdom that provides an exquisite new tool for personal breakthrough.

THE ETHICAL IMAGINATION by Margaret Somerville (House Of Anansi, $19) The author proposes that it is only through human imagination—by heeding stories, myths, and moral intuition—that it is possible to relate to the world.

THE UP SIDE OF DOWN: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization by Thomas Homer-Dixon (Knopf, $37) A mind-stretching tour of societies’ management, or mismanagement, of disasters over time.

HEAT: How To Stop the Planet from Burning by George Monbiot (Doubleday, $30) One of the world’s leading environmental activists proves that there is a way to constructively cope with climate change.

THE END OF FOOD by Thomas F. Pawlick (Grey Stone, $25) How corporations are destroying the food supply.

INSIDE MY HEART: Choosing to Live with Passion and Purpose by Robin McGraw (Nelson, $22) A personal account to inspire women to make choices that reflect their heart’s truest priorities and highest goals.

UNIVERSE IN A SINGLE ATOM: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality by the Dalai Lama (Morgan Road, $19) An analysis of why all avenues of inquiry—scientific and spiritual—must be pursued to arrive at the truth.

EXPLORING THE LEVELS OF CREATION by Sylvia Browne (Hay House, $24) An exploration of the structure of Creation suggesting there is purpose and order in our sometimes seemingly chaotic world and existence.

SharedVISION Hot Titles are compiled by gleaning from Conscious Choice and TBM Bookmanager, from sales data provided by more than 200 independent bookstores across Canada. The January 2007 lists report from early December. For more information and a list of contributing booksellers, see bookmanager.com or shared-vision.com.