Tim Brookes

If you are or ever have been in a committed relationship with a guitar, then you'll probably love this book too.

Tim Brookes seamlessly weaves two stories for us: a journey of discovery as we follow the hand-made construction of a new guitar for him by master-guitar-maker, Rick Davis; and a deep retrospective on the history of the guitar (predominantly focused on America, but necessarily reeling in influences from around the world).

There are many surprises to discover here - unless you are show more already and accomplished luthier or professor of music. For example, I never appreciated the significance of Hawaiian music in re-establishing the guitar as a popular instrument from the 1930's (and probably inventing "lead guitar" in the process). Actually, it's probably more accurate to say I never appreciated the Hawaiian steel/slide guitar style in the first place, and always thought it was a niche oddity of the 50's.

Tim's relatively unbiased and inclusive history is a breath of fresh air. From Mariachi to Metal, Blues to Baroque, Flamenco to Folk - it's all here, and the relationships and historical precedents are brought vividly and clearly to life. show less

A chronicle of hitchhiking in the 70s and a retracing trip in 1998, this book paints a vivid picture of the US during that unusual time and provides an interesting insight into maturing. Brookes has a wry sense fo humor that makes this book a pleasure to read. Not my favorite travelogue, but a good one, and worth a read especially if you have an interest in the decade that brought us Qiana.

As far as historical books go -- and in my view, most of them are dull as boards -- this is a truly fascinating if not exhaustive look at the guitar's trek through all manners of American society.

It works because Brookes intersperses the historical chapters with the story of the building of his own custom guitar by a Vermont luthier, and somehow, though the technical information provided is detailed and a little surprising, it's the history that becomes most interesting as the book show more progresses.

The major problem with the book, though, is that the author has an unabashed bias against the electric guitar: the book traces mostly the history of the private or small performance, eschewing much about large-scale performance until much later, and really only scratching the surface of the electric's history except for detailing the role of effects in shaping its sound. He's an acoustic purist, through and through, and his history mostly traces the development of acoustic music -- folk, blues, jazz, etc. -- and only skims much of rock and roll, and especially heavy metal and punk.

But Brookes's style is so endearing and his storytelling ability so strong that it's hard to notice these things until very late in the story -- and frankly, by that time, the narratives have been so enthralling that it's hard to really hold that much against him.

A great read, especially for the guitar lover, who will inevitably find himself loving his axe even more when he puts this book down to pick his instrument up. show less

If you love beautiful typography, calligraphry, orthography, this book is a feast. I had fun picking out my faves & least faves throughout. However, I would have gotten more from the book had the alphabets been categorized. For example, are these letters, syllables, or ideographs? How many glyphs are there? What's the alpha & omega? What are its influences, its lineage? Inception date: ancient or recent? These are easy enough to include as a block per alphabet or as an Appendix.