FINALIST FOR TORONTO BOOK AWARDS

The inside story of the grassroots fight to have a suicide barrier erected on Toronto’s “bridge of death.”

Most Torontonians have no idea their city once hosted the second most popular suicide magnet in North America, behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Since its completion in 1918, more than four hundred people jumped to their death from the Bloor Viaduct, which spans the cavernous Don Valley.

That number might still be rising if not for the tireless efforts of a group of volunteers, led by two citizens, who fought City Hall for years to get a suicide barrier erected. Not only did they win, they saved numerous lives and brought to light valuable research on how barriers actually lower suicide numbers overall. The resulting barrier — The Luminous Veil — has been praised for its ingenious and inspiring design.

The Suicide Magnet tells how the battle was won, and explores the ongoing efforts to help those suffering from mental health challenges.

After years working in homicide, retired Toronto detective Steve Ryan reflects on six cases he will never forget.

Retired detective Steve Ryan worked in Toronto’s homicide squad for over a decade. For Ryan, the stories of Toronto’s most infamous crimes were more than just a headline read over morning coffee — they were his everyday life.

After investigating over one hundred homicides, Ryan can never forget the tragedies and the victims, even after his retirement from the police force. In The Ghosts That Haunt Me, he reflects on six of the many cases that greatly impacted him — seven people whose lives were senselessly taken — and that he still thinks about nearly every day. While the stories are hard to tell for Ryan, they were harder to live through. Yet somewhere between the crimes and the heartache is a glimmer of hope that good eventually does prevail and that healing can come after grief.

Although many adults believe they have had encounters with strange creatures from alien spaceships, not everyone has actually reported their experiences to official investigators. But if you're a young person it's even less likely that people will believe you and more likely that your story will never be officially recorded. After all, who would believe a kid?

I Saw It Too! is the first collection of stories told by children, documenting what they saw and when they saw it. These accounts are real cases of UFOs they've seen or alien creatures they've encountered that were reported to government or military officials, UFO investigators, and journalists.

Inside you will find eighteen of these strange, fascinating, and believable tales recounted by young people from around the world with story illustrations by Stacey Archer with Lonigan Gilbert. The truth is really out there, and renowned ufologist Chris Rutkowski has tracked it down!

With liberal democracy in crisis, ten experts examine democratic backsliding and offer opportunities for citizens to take action.

With liberal democracy in crisis around the world, ten contributors — all experts in their respective fields of political science, philosophy, law, cultural institutions, and diplomacy — explain the why and how we find ourselves in a state of democratic backsliding. What are the intellectual origins of liberalism? Has liberal democracy ever been fully realized?

Is it fear that is driving the democratic process into inertia? Are we as citizens simply less informed and educated on the importance of active participation? Or is it a case where we find ourselves like a frog in boiling water, not realizing how bad things are until we start to feel it personally?

This anthology provides a deep dive into some of the key systems and structures that define our liberal democracy and whether these can or should be strengthened to preserve it. The agency of the citizen will ultimately shine through as the vital organ that allows a liberal democracy — both the ideal and the practical — to function effectively and do what it’s supposed to do for the people who live within it.

101 facts about the human body that will surprise and amaze you.

Did you know you shed approximately six hundred thousand skin particles every hour? That yawning cools the brain? Or that the appendix plays an important role in gut health?

The human body is a marvel — one that can grow, repair itself, and last for eighty to ninety years. In 101 Fascinating Human Body Facts, Dr. Kieran Murphy and Anya Murphy explain the functions of this extraordinary machine, from how we process memories to how the liver works and from why we fart to why we can't tickle ourselves.

Ghostlore, folkloric patterns, and science collide in the tale of the infamous Mulmur Hills poltergeist.

In the aftermath of the Great War, the Dobson family retreats to a quiet farm in Mulmur Township, seeking peace from urban life. Their tranquility is shattered when terrifying horse mutilations signal the presence of an unseen thing. Soon the sinister force grows stronger, turning the farmhouse into a battleground of inexplicable phenomena: shaking floors, phantom knocks, and objects that defy gravity. The Dobsons flee after years of terrifying disturbances, but their ordeal captivates newspapers, drawing journalists and thrill-seekers to the now-famous “Spook Farm.”

As rumours swirl about family intrigue, buried secrets, and occult influences, Ivan Hutchins, a Toronto-based spiritualist and investigator, joins the Dobsons to unravel the mystery through seances and investigations. The story unfolds against a wider tapestry of rural Canadian poltergeist cases, comparing the Dobsons’ ordeal with other forgotten hauntings and the folkloric patterns they share.

This true story reclaims a forgotten chapter of Canadian paranormal history while exploring why such occurrences echo through our folklore, our fears, and our enduring fascination with the unexplained.