The Interpreter's Big Book of Disasters - Softcover

Every day around the world, heritage interpreters fearlessly work to connect people with places. Normally, their programs go off without a hitch, and become the stuff of legend. However, as in life, things don’t always go as planned. The Interpreter's Big Book of Disasters is a guide to teach you what others learned the hard way. These are the disaster stories that are shared around a campfire, passed down from grizzled veteran interpreters to fresh young recruits. They were never written down in training manuals... until now. The book is entirely the result of voluntary contributions from interpreters across Canada and beyond. The stories, illustrations, design and editing were all done by interpreters, free of charge, for the benefit of the interpretive community. It is the outcome of a whole community of interpreters coming together. You will laugh, cheer, and maybe even cry, but most of all you will learn how to save yourself from repeating the same mistakes.

Pamela Murray discovered that interpretation was her calling when her summer job sent her to an Interpretation Canada conference in Manning Provincial Park in 1998. After many years as a front-line interpreter in provincial and national parks in British Columbia and Alberta, she is currently the Lead Interpreter at Milner Gardens & Woodland, as well as a member of Interpretation Canada’s board. Calvert Martin fell in love with the field of interpretation as a nature centre volunteer over 25 years ago. Since those early days, he has worked at institutions across Canada, such as Manitoba Provincial Parks, the Vancouver Aquarium, Assiniboine Park Zoo, and Metro Vancouver Regional Parks. Today, he works as a Visitor Experience Advisor for Parks Canada, runs an interpretive consultancy called Frog in the Pocket, and sits on Interpretation Canada’s board as Past Chair. André Y. Laurin discovered his passion for interpretation over 15 years ago during a cooperative education placement at a science centre when he was in high school. Having worked at an urban outreach centre, a national historic site and now as Interpretation Coordinator at Prince Edward Island National Park, André has accumulated a variety of interpretive disasters for his toolkit. A self-proclaimed naturalist-in-perpetual-training, André is a certified Heritage Interpreter and current member of Interpretation Canada’s board.