Know It All

James Marsh traces his path from a difficult childhood to a long career in Canadian publishing, a journey that ended with the creation of The Canadian Encyclopedia. Along the way he draws on the people who shaped him: close friends, a psychiatrist whose insight left a lasting mark, and the authors he came to know personally. A deep love of books and a restless curiosity run through the story.

He also describes his drive to portray Canada as a country of many voices and backgrounds. That inclusive vision helped him bring some of the country's leading thinkers into a shared national project that seemed out of reach at the start.

Beyond his own life, Marsh reflects on how memory works and how people come to see themselves. Readers also gain a sense of what it means to be Canadian, what the work of a book editor involves, and a firsthand account of how the encyclopedia came to be.