Tag: books

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Book Hunts

Since my interests as an anthropologist and as a woodcarver have tended towards the maritime, you’d expect that my library would be heavily weighted to those interests, and you’d be right. However, I used library sales and second-hand booksellers to do this for less than a fortune. I could and should recite a panegyric to praise libraries and their book sales. And if you are interested in arts and crafts, you should also.

Here are two ways it works. Mr. Somewhere loves books on the sea and is one of the best patrons of the Quimby public library. So once in a while, they purchase his requests. They do this even though they are so far away from water that no one in town but Mr. Somwhere knows what an anchor is. Ten years go by, and the library is weeding, and someone notices that the book hasn’t been checked out in nine years. So it goes to the annual book sale where a used book dealer buys it.
Eventually, that well-curated collection of Mr. Somewhere downsizes as his family moves to a smaller home, and the personal library gets contributed to the annual book sale. A bonanza for the book dealer.

About two-thirds of my library comes from used books, library discards, sale items, and such. And it’s a nice collection. But, honestly, many of the titles were no longer available new because publishers keep lean inventories and do small publication runs.

So if you are interested in tasteful mother of pearl inlay ( yeah, I’ve got that!) or something on the Freedom of the Seas ( got that as well), the second-hand sellers are where you will wind up.

There are some very reputable dealers for those who haven’t tried this approach. Among the ones I’ve used is Biblio.com. Thriftbooks.com, and of course Amazon. I don’t think there is any dispute that this is the most economical way to develop a collection of books for the craftsperson. So if your interests are tole painting, carving, egg decoration, or knitting, the searches at these sites are easy to do, and what you don’t find, you can put in requests for.

Happy browsing.

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Books For January

The dead zone of winter, that’s what I term the first six weeks of the new year. It’s too snowy, too dark, too wet, and absolutely too cold for many of the activities I enjoy. The basement shop is a cheery forty (Fahrenheit), and the greenhouse carving shop barely hovers at 34 most days. So not much carving is done unless there is an order to be finished ASAP.

So these are the weeks that I plan prototypes of carvings and read. I try to focus on something new to me or a potentially helpful tangent. So this month’s reading list includes a book by a friend of mine, Barbara Merry of the Marlinspike Artist, and The Pocket Universal Principles of Design.

Barbara’s book is full of knots and projects for knot tying. I have no intention of becoming a marlinespike artist, but I’ve found that little knowledge goes to waste, and the best time to acquire it is before you have an immediate need for it.

The book on design principles covers things you may never have thought about – apparent motion, the 80/20 rule, and the IKEA Effect. 

It’s essential to get a bit out of your field every once in a while. And an otherwise slow period is an excellent time to do it; there are no excuses you can offer for not exploring a bit.

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Choice

<p class="has-drop-cap" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">Some books make a difference. I've had a favorite game for years; I'll give a friend five minutes to pick the two volumes they'd take with them if they had to leave all the rest behind in an emergency. You can have an entire library, but if you had five minutes to pack, there would always be one or two that you'd shove to the bottom of your rucksack.<br>Sometimes the choices seem counter-intuitive. There have been some surprising choices. People do not always act to what you think is their type: one of my most hard-boiled friends chose Joyce's Dubliners and a collection of poetry. Another emergency medical texts and the Bible. A third, more recently, showed me their iPad which, contained a complete small library – cheater!<br>Some people will go with the sentimental favorites, books they've had from the beginning. For others it's practical foundational material. Everyone has a reason for the choice, but they may be unwilling to reveal them to you.<br>The books I always shoved to the bottom of my rucksack when I was on the road? A book on forestry – because I had dreams of being a timber cruiser ( the boy from the big city, right!), and a compilation of folksongs I liked. So, what would your choices be? Share them if you wish.Some books make a difference. I’ve had a favorite game for years; I’ll give a friend five minutes to pick the two volumes they’d take with them if they had to leave all the rest behind in an emergency. You can have an entire library, but if you had five minutes to pack, there would always be one or two that you’d shove to the bottom of your rucksack.
Sometimes the choices seem counter-intuitive. There have been some surprising choices. People do not always act to what you think is their type: one of my most hard-boiled friends chose Joyce’s Dubliners and a collection of poetry. Another emergency medical texts and the Bible. A third, more recently, showed me their iPad which, contained a complete small library – cheater!
Some people will go with the sentimental favorites, books they’ve had from the beginning. For others it’s practical foundational material. Everyone has a reason for the choice, but they may be unwilling to reveal them to you.
The books I always shoved to the bottom of my rucksack when I was on the road? A book on forestry – because I had dreams of being a timber cruiser ( the boy from the big city, right!), and a compilation of folksongs I liked. So, what would your choices be? Share them if you wish.

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