Three Books and Three Stories

We all have our learning styles, and mine is putting it all together myself. Remember the old saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear? Well, in my case, the teacher’s train was late, and if I had waited, I’d never have learned to play guitar or carve. Carving and guitar playing have been two essential parts of my life, but when the urge to learn appeared, there was no one to teach me.
Rather than sit around frustrated, I taught myself.

At about age ten, I found a broken-up old lute and tried to play it. My father, taking pity on me, found me a Stella guitar, and I started plinking on that. But I had no idea what I was doing. On a trip downtown to a music store, I found a copy of “The Folksinger’s Guitar Guide” by Jerry Silverman. Using it, I made enough noise that sounded like music that I eventually received “Charlie,” my favorite guitar, As a Christmas present.
Charlie is still with me and has many thousands of miles to his credit as my companion on many road trips and many performances.
A battered older copy of the Folksinger’s Guitar Guide still resides on my bookshelf, and after all these years, it still has valuable information. I believe it, and several successor volumes are still in print. If you want to learn how to become an engaging raconteur, folksinger, and survivor of altercations while performing in bars, as I was, pick up a copy.

I found E.J. Tangerman’s book “Whittling and Woodcarving” pretty much the same way I found the Folksinger’s Guitar Guide. I had already procured some tools, and needed instruction on using them. There was no teacher available, so a book became my guide. And yes, this book is still on my shelf, but more out of nostalgia than practicality. There are many better instructional books on carving available now. But in 1968, it was the little paperback by E.J. Tangerman. I was fortunate to rapidly find some mentors who showed me things I could not understand from texts alone.
I had a moment of dislocation the first time I prepared to teach woodcarving. Mastering skills in woodcarving really should not be a random mishmash like it was for me. Teaching was an extremely valuable experience that made me a better carver.

Peter Kemp’s “Ships and the Sea” occupies three locations in my home – office library, shop library, and maritime library. I picked up my first copy in 1976 at the greatly missed Encore Books. If you are into things maritime and lack a copy, there are used copies of the 1976 edition and the more recent 2005 edition and a reissue in 2015. Open randomly for some exciting tidbit. The maritime historian William Avery Baker harbored a bit of prejudice against the book for its British proclivity but granted that it was a helpful reference. No maritime library is complete without a copy. I have so many copies because they keep getting buried in the shop or the office, and I like to have them at hand when I find a term while researching a portrait I do not recognize.

So the prompt asked for three books. So I’ll exclude the story about my old copy of Gray’s Anatomy. My “favorite” orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Puffer, hurled it at me because my knowledge of anatomy needed improvement. He was an interesting “old School” guy to work with. Next time!

So there are three valuable books, and why I find them useful. Perhaps one might be of use to you.