Will Ferguson investigates the diverse nature of Canadian culture in his latest travel narrative Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada, a fun and informative account of his experiences touring our vast nation.

Beauty Tips is Ferguson’s first book in three years, following the back-to-back successes of How To Be A Canadian (winner of the 2002 CBA Libris Award for Non-Fiction Book of the Year) and Happiness, which nabbed him a spot on the 2002 Commonwealth Prize shortlist. In keeping with Ferguson’s other non-fictional works (Why I Hate Canadians, Bastards and Boneheads), Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw manages to present us with an entertaining and enlightening look at the Great White North (yes, contrary to popular belief, Canada is a fascinating place).

“One of the reasons I wrote the book was just to explore the sheer variety that this country offers,” Ferguson says. “Just to show people.”

The result is a collection of travel writing that opens our eyes to the fact that there is an abundance of interesting history lurking under the surface of Canada’s otherwise seemingly colourless exterior.

“The problem nowadays,” Ferguson continues, “is that we fly planes that look kinda the same, we stay in hotels that look kinda the same, and we get this illusion that the country is more or less the same across Canada, when it really isn’t.”

In his book, Ferguson journeys from Victoria, B.C. to St. John’s, Newfoundland, choosing some of the most remote and unusual places to write about (Moose Jaw, Churchill ,and Thunder Bay to name a few).

“That’s what I was looking for, areas that were really unique” he explains. “If you’re not dismissive about places, where you kind of go ‘eh,’ if you really look, every place-well, not every place-but in most communities, if you dig you can find something there that’s fascinating.”

More than a great storyteller, Ferguson is a philosopher, a comedian, and a historian all rolled into one.

“What makes things interesting is the history,” he declares. “Without the history it’s just, ‘I went, I saw this, I did that.’ For me, travel has to integrate the history of the place, otherwise there’s no point. So as a travel writer, you have to keep your sense of wonder. When you lose that, you might as well throw in the towel.”

To be sure, Ferguson knows how to keep his readers wanting more-his books are not only popular in Canada, but have had huge success with international audiences (he’s been published in 31 different countries to date).

“I write the books I like to read; I like books that balance,” he notes. “I don’t like just reading about something someone did; I like to get a little bit of history and background. I’m always terrified of losing readers-every page I write, I’m thinking a reader always has something better to do; they don’t have to read your book. I don’t presume that they’re going to come to me, that they’ll just give their time unless I keep them engaged or entertained or informed.”

Part of Ferguson’s charm comes from the very honest way in which he relates his unusual stories to everyday experience. He was sent by Flare magazine to a beauty spa in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (the inspiration for the book’s title), where he recalls, “they wrapped me in seaweed and dunked me in tea, whatever they were doing-it was so funny. My theory is a lot of guys imagine that you’re just hanging around doing nothing, being kinda girly, you know what I mean… But if you told guys, ‘It’s very scientific, it’s really complicated and they’ve got chemicals,’ they’d be like, ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it.’

“I was stunned. I thought, you know, they slap some mud on your face, put cucumbers on your eyes, but it was really incredibly involved. There were a hundred steps,” Ferguson grins, “and I felt great after.”

Currently on tour across Canada promoting his book, Ferguson expects to wrap up in Moose Jaw-where else?- (maybe he’ll make time for another mud wrap!) before going home to his wife and two sons in Calgary.