Aloha Tribe,
Here are 20 books or so that I have and study constantly in my study of tying knots, creating tensioned wires and ropes, and all manners of ways to hook up lowlines, highlines, slacklines, loose ropes, and tightropes. I really love all of them and I highly recommend them all.
1. Ninjutsu: The Art of Invisibility by Donn F. Draeger - this book does not have much on "tightrope" but it does have a drawing of someone walking on a bamboo stalk lashed between two trees. One way to do this, is to have the bamboo literally tied to the trees themselves, creating a solid walking experience, like a tightrope. Another way is to suspend the bamboo pole by ropes at each end, thus making a very loose swinging platform.
2. Man On Wire by Philippe Petit - this is Philippe's book on his walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York back in the early '70's. It is fascinating how he studied the scene, almost like a burglar would he said, planned everything, then, had to sneak it all in for his illegal highwire crossing.
3. 72 Consummate Arts of the Shaolin Temple by Wu Jiaming - this is a super martial arts book with tons of training ideas from an incredible amount of different Shaolin martial arts. There are several sections (perhaps half a dozen or so if you open your creativity a bit to see possibilities) that are very applicable to soft rope walking.
4. Funambule by Elgin Michel - this book is only in French - I very much like it. If you don't read French, you'll have to translate this, of course. It is a book about Philippe Petit and his highwire walk at the Eifel Tower in Paris. It covers his training, the planning, and the execution. Both this book and his book Man on Wire are truly necessary for any highwire artist.
5. On The High Wire by Philippe Petit - in this book, Philippe talks about his training and ideas on walking on the highwire. This is a truly phenomenal book that I read constantly. It is not so much a book about a particular highwire walking project like his other two books, instead, it is more like essays on his thoughts about highwire walking.
6. Knots and Ropes for Climbers by Duane Raleigh - a great book for those interested in knots. While it does not have tons of knots, it has most of the ones necessary for climbing, and all of the ones necessary for slacklining with easy to understand directions and drawings.
7. Fragments of the Artwork by Jean Genet - this book has a series of essays on numerous art type ideas, one of which deals with tightwire walking and, for this essay alone, the pure magic of it, the inspiration it offers, is worth it.
8. TM 5-725 Rigging : Department of the Army Technical Manual - a straightforward military type manual that offers most ideas of what you'd need for slacklining knots or soft rope knots and rigging.
9. Field Guide to Accompany High Angle Rescue Techniques by Tom Vines - has a wonderful chapter on highlining.
10. Handbook of Rigging by Joseph A. MacDonald - a textbook type book, huge, with tons to learn on rigging.
11. Arborist Equipment: A Guide to the tools and equipment of tree maintenance and removal
by Donald F. Blair - a great book for learning a bit about knots and tree climbing, thus useful for the slackliner.
12. Technical Rescue Riggers Guide by Rick Lipke - has a highlining chapter
13. Rope Levels 1 and 2 by Jeff Matthews - also has a highlining chapter
14. Engineering Practical Rope Rescue Systems by Michael G. Brown - this too has a highlining chapter
15. High Angle Rescue Techniques by Tom Vines - has a highlining chapter.
16. The Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford Ashley - I'd imagine this book has every knot there is in it. This book is the knot tying bible.
17. On Rope by Smith and Padgett - a great book with a wonderful chapter on highlining as well as one on circus rigging.
18. Rigging Handbook by Jerry Klink - straightforward rigging book
19. Wire Rope Users - if you want to know about wire, for wirewalking, you'll learn all you need to know about wire here.
20. Construction Safety Association of Ontario Rigging Manual - this book teaches tons on rigging.
21. Walk the Line by Scott Balcom - the only slackline book devoted totally just to slacklining out there and thus, a must have.
I so hope that some of you get these books, in fact, I'd love at least a few of you to get all of them, then, it would be so fun to get together in some local pub over a game of chess (but of course) while simulatneously sharing ideas and techniques over a fine glass of Merlot in front of a soft gentle fire. I love sharing, and, learning. And, just hanging, you know Brahs.
Buy the books, study them, learn some knots and rigging, then, get to the trees and buildings and such and slack and walk and balance and play.
Bodaciously Stoked,
Lily of the Valley
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment