John Ralston Saul holds a Ph.D. in history from King's College (London). He is an internationally renowned novelist whose novel, The Paradise Eater, received the Premio Letterario Internazionale in 1990. Named one of Utne Reader's 100 "visionaries," he gave the prestigious 1995 Massey Lectures at the University of Toronto, on which The Unconscious Civilization is based. The book has been nominated for Canada's Governor's General Award for Nonfiction Literature. Saul lives in Toronto.

The best thing about John Ralston Saul: the nonchalant, nay, cavalier way he sits kinda askew on the semi-throne to the right of the Governor-General's full throne - like a surly teenager at the back of the bus - as his wife, GG Adrienne Clarkson delivers an address to the Commons designed to be understood by even the simplest members (thus falling fall beneath her usual standards of intelligence). He's obviously so amused by the situation; at times one can almost detect a bit of a curl at the edges of his mouth as he tries not to crack up in such austere surroundings.

The new best thing about John Ralston Saul will be when he becomes the Prime Minister of Canada, which, unfortunately, will be never. He'll be at some resort for people who were a little too smart for the public-at-large to elect, getting hosed with Al Gore and Bill Bradlee.

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