By Jonathan Chevreau

With Christmas just a week and a half away, the burning question about Conrad Black’s new Rise to Greatness is this: Would you like a family member to buy you a copy and place it under the tree? Alternatively, is there someone in your circle who would appreciate such a gift?

With a suggested retail price of $50, this is more than you’d spend on most books. On the other hand, once wrapped it will have an impressive bulk. Weighing in at 1,106 pages it’s at least two-and-a-half inches thick (I measured it).

And as you can see from the photo, there is a close connection between this massive book and a dictionary. If you really want to benefit from Black’s Rise to Greatness: The History of Canada from the Vikings to the Present, you need to have a dictionary at hand, as I did. Continue Reading…