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Has anybody read...
The Pencil By Henry Petroski?
It made the NY Times Bestseller list several years ago...
This thread is, BTW, Crockett's fault... he got me to thinking about books when he asked about theme songs... (Don't ask me how they relate... It's all about these misfiring synapses of mine)
Anywho, back to the book... It sounds like a thriller about gangsters maybe... "...So Vito Gee called in "The Pencil" to make the hit..." or something along those lines.
It isn't like that. But there is espionage, theivery, and skulduggery involved.
But, honestly, it IS all about pencils... how they developed, how they came to be in their present state... What makes good lead, why do they use Western Red Cedar? What is "plumbago" and why did they guard it with armed guards... Why did you nearly have to go through a strip search when you left the plumbago mine... Where is the big tree under which the first mine for plumbago was dug?
How does one author come up with about 400 pages of stuff about pencils and make it interesting? Interesting... Heck no! It's fascinating... and well written... I'd recommend his other books as well...
We are woodworkers; hence, we design stuff or alter existing designs. His books are about design, mostly. Very good reads, the ones I've read...
Get your own "juices" flowing, read something different!
"But don't take my word for it..!"
It made the NY Times Bestseller list several years ago...
This thread is, BTW, Crockett's fault... he got me to thinking about books when he asked about theme songs... (Don't ask me how they relate... It's all about these misfiring synapses of mine)
Anywho, back to the book... It sounds like a thriller about gangsters maybe... "...So Vito Gee called in "The Pencil" to make the hit..." or something along those lines.
It isn't like that. But there is espionage, theivery, and skulduggery involved.
But, honestly, it IS all about pencils... how they developed, how they came to be in their present state... What makes good lead, why do they use Western Red Cedar? What is "plumbago" and why did they guard it with armed guards... Why did you nearly have to go through a strip search when you left the plumbago mine... Where is the big tree under which the first mine for plumbago was dug?
How does one author come up with about 400 pages of stuff about pencils and make it interesting? Interesting... Heck no! It's fascinating... and well written... I'd recommend his other books as well...
We are woodworkers; hence, we design stuff or alter existing designs. His books are about design, mostly. Very good reads, the ones I've read...
Get your own "juices" flowing, read something different!
"But don't take my word for it..!"
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