Ten Books Everyone Should Read # 3

Regardless of whether we are younger or older, in school or in business, we all need friends. One of the most impactful books, and a classic at that!, everyone should read is Dale Carnegie's, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Can't go wrong with it, and it's a book that is applicable to any walk of life and any situation in home or business.

The Carnegie title has, no doubt, influenced other best-selling titles through the years, but in its basic form, Carnegie's offering can't be beat. In our era of bad manners, bad language, bad habits, and shoddy business practices, Carnegie's book would read like a Bible for anyone desiring to broaden their influence and impact the lives of others in a POSITIVE way.

Perhaps this book should be required reading before High School graduation. I've read it many times, and each time I find something new among its pages. A book for ages and one that will stay on the shelf for a lifetime.

Ten Books Everyone Should Read # 2

Every child lives with imagination, and as we age we become boring, burned out shells who can't think of a new idea to save our lives. We live on old, worn-out dreams and familiar places.

What we need are the wild things.

Every parent and child should read Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. It's more than a children's book, however. It's the stuff that wild dreams are made of: voyages to distant places, out-of-control worlds, and chaos that offers other possibilities inside of the warmth of home and family. It's all there.

Some people don't discover this book until they have a "mid-life" crisis, and then they realize that their world is, indeed, too wild to handle. Others try to live their lives inside their comforting bowl of oatmeal and never venture out into the wild, uncertain boundaries of the own possibilities.

In short, the wild things are inside of us . . . and the worlds we dream can only be realized if we are willing to venture out.

Ten Books Everyone Should Read # 1

There are, of course, many . . . but these are ten books that have the potential to impact everyone: younger, older, any stage of life.

How about a book that offers more than wisps of childhood, but has some carry-over into adulthood? It's the kind of book that has just enough warmth and simplicity to appeal to a child and enough thoughtfulness and mayhem to appeal to the matured realities of life, the kind of book that deals with life and death, friendship and parting, community and work, younger and older alike.

I'm talking about Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White. Not a bad read at any age, and certainly a top ten book by me.

If you haven't read it . . . give it a try. You'll no doubt discover something you had forgotten or would like to discover again.

Ten Ways to Look at a Piano # 10

As King

Many have claimed to be King . . . including Elvis and Michael Jackson. But without the piano they would only have their gyrations and their respective basements in which to perform.

The piano is a tops, as they say, and many a great talent has been made even greater by the king of instruments. Take away the keys and the pedals and few talents can muster the strength to sing a note. The piano covers faults and reveals weaknesses alike. It covers a multitude of sins, as the scriptures would remind us.

Best to let the King alone and let him sit on the throne. That's what the bench is for. That's why everyone who sits down to play feels like royalty. Even a child.

The next time you are feeling lonely, afraid, or insignificant, sit down at a piano and keep silent for a moment. Strike a key. Just one. That's your note. And you'll be feeling better in no time.

On Monday: Ten Books Worth Reading

Ten Ways to Look at a Piano # 9

As Nightclub Centerpiece

It's there . . . you just have to listen. Somewhere stage left, or in the pit, or behind the curtain, the piano lurks. And if not center stage with the nightclub singer, you can bet the manager has one stashed in a closet waiting for the next voice to surround it.

In fact, many can't eat unless they are being serenaded by the piano, and there are those who, like bats, inhabit the night places in search of another drink and a song to get them through to the morning. The piano has saved more people than we might imagine and, as Billy Joel would remind us, the piano man can make everyone feel all right.

One doesn't have to be a nightclub hound to embrace the piano's magic, however. Day will do. And a song played beautifully can make any experience more palatable and any drab day bright.

Ten Ways to Look at a Piano # 8

As Creation

In the beginning there was the piano . . . probably. Or some kid was playing "Chopsticks" or "Heart and Soul."

Watch any child who suddenly finds herself in the same room as a piano and you'll likely witness an act of creation. Before long, the gravity of the instrument pulls the child onto the bench, and moments later, keys are pecked. This is why, from infancy, every child wants to play the piano and every parent dreams of it. This is why children practice the piano for two days before the gravity of other pursuits pulls them away, or they decide to concentrate on the oboe instead.

Not everyone is a creator. Most don't have the mind for it. Few the heart. Most would rather play accompaniment rather than key notes in the orchestra.

But the piano leads. It can be heard over the din. This is why parents also wear ear plugs when children are learning and why many pianos sit, lonely in a room devoid of children's hands, and moulder. The piano cuts through the clatter and teaches the act of creation.

Most of us are still trying to find the bench.

Ten Ways to Look at a Piano # 7

As Comedy

The piano has figured into some of the best comedy sketches of all time. Picture Laurel and Hardy trying to cart a piano up a flight of stairs, or a piano dropping from an upper story window. We can also picture ourselves trying to move a piano from one side of the room to the other . . . .

The piano is a monstrosity of proportions and scale. Great size, small wheels. Furniture too heavy to move. Just looking at the piano and thinking about moving it can evoke laughter. And once we hire the piano movers, the comedy is riotous. There's no place to go but down.

It's a fine thing . . . the piano. It should come with a laugh track. Why anyone would attempt to move one to the upper level of an apartment complex borders on the insane.

But people do it. They must. We're still laughing about it.