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Are there any other reading suggestions for those of us that enjoyed "Grand Obsession"? I know "The Piano Shop On The Left Bank" is another good book along these lines but I'm looking for other recommendations.

Have you read "Piano Girl"? I really enjoyed that, though it's more about playing than about pianos. The same can be said about Noah Adams' "Piano Lessons," which I also liked. Actually, I've yet to read a piano book I haven't liked, including The Piano Book. Too bad there aren't more of them!

Nancy

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm an avid reader but becoming frustrated by the lack of new music related books.

Actually looking up the Noah Adams recommendation on Amazon brought up so other interesting recommendations if anyone else is interested.

I recommend Arthur Reblitz's "Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding: For The Professional, The Student, And The Hobbyist" to go with your "Grand Obsession" book.

"Romance on 3 Legs" is a good read. So are the various books on piano history, the House of Steinway, etc.

???

If you go to Barnes & Noble or Amazon you'l find 100's of books about pianos, pianists, piano literature etc. many of them of recent publication. I have over 200 myself.

In the fiction category, I'd recommend "Body and Soul" by Frank Conroy.

Another fun read:

Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson by Tricia Tunstall

Couldn't agree more, nice book nice read. I think the author Katie Hafner is going to write some detective story of a missing volin. That might be interesting as well.

I also like "Romance on 3 Legs". Other music-related books I enjoyed are "Musicophelia" by Oliver Sacks, and "This is Your Brain on Music".

If you liked Grand Obsession, then you'll love the book "A Romance on Three Legs" by Katie Hafner. This book tells you about Glenn Gould's obsession for the perfect piano. Take a look at the reviews for this book on Amazon and you will want to read it.
Tom

Me too. I love this book

Don't forget "The Piano Tuner," by Daniel Mason. Some really great scenes, descriptions of a tuner/tech at work, an exotic jungle setting, and an eccentric military officer.

Two of my favorites:

Piano - by James Barron. Written by a New York Times staff reporter, this book follows the construction of a NY Steinway D, and includes a bit of interesting history on the Steinway family and company.

Piano Notes - by Charles Rosen. More about being a pianist than about pianos per se, but a fascinating read and one that I suspect is reasonably accessible to pianists of all levels.

Cheers

I have an admission, except for his goldberg variations, I don't like Glenn Gould's interpretations that much. (OK flame me!) Even my wife thinks I am wrong (go figure).

His Brahms just don't sound that well considered to me.

OK I am out of the closet now, I feel better.

:-)

I really liked "My Life with the Great Pianists" by Franz Mohr, the celebrated and "semi"-retired chief concert tuner/technician from Steinway. It is a captivating account of his professional and personal life, as well as the countless hours he spent traveling and attending to the pianos (and sometimes hilarious idiosyncracies) of Horowitz, Gould, Cliburn, Rubinstein, etc. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mohr in a recent trip to Minneapolis, and he was an absolutely delightful, engaging and charming gentleman.

Arthur Loesser's "Men, Women, and Pianos" is a great read. It's an exhaustive social history of the piano, and he has a wonderful dry sense of humor sometimes. Here is one of my favorite quotes, about the phenomenon of multiple-piano concerts that were in vogue for a while:

"Two pianos, it was generally realized by connoisseurs, could in many ways make more music than a single one; three, however, were a superfluity, if not a nuisance. Nevertheless, a flock of rich simpletons might readily be impressed by a lot of apparatus and pay good money to be in a room with it. After all, to people who live for money, quantity is quality."

A brand new, fairly technical piano book is by André Oorebeek and is called "The Voice of the Piano". While essentially a voicing manual for technicians, players can benefit from the book as well. It will give them insights into tone regulation and give them the vocabulary and background information to converse more effectively with their tuner/technician about getting the tone they want from their instrument.

The book comes with a 45 minute instructional and very informative DVD

www.TheVoiceOfThePiano.com

WHAT!?! Voice of the piano... IT COSTS $1 PER PAGE!!!

Holy cow I don't think I've ever purchased a book that expensive.

I'll wait 10 years and buy it in the used book store.