Every object around us contains the history of all the people and places that brought it here. But rarely is that history explored. In this book, instead of breaking an object apart to reveal those stories, they are told by building the object a guitar named Storyteller from scratch.

The text and illustrations reveal the rich lives of the people, places, and projects that breathed life into it. The stories range from people who were pioneers in landscape restoration to those involved with automobile manufacturing. The places include the high arctic, tropical forests, and vertical cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment. The projects include stage plays, laser physics and the establishment of the first Canadian diamond mines. By bringing together these disparate stories in one musical instrument the book makes the argument that art, science, and history are part of everybody’s life.

Doug Larson is an award winning scientist, author, lecturer, instrument maker, and musician. Now an Emeritus Professor at the University of Guelph, he spends his time lecturing about the union of art and science and uses the Storyteller guitar as the touchstone to this philosophy.

Doug Larson's profile page

• Commended, Dewey Divas and the Dudes

Larson's stories are enlivened by a remarkable cast of characters – mostly scientists, but also foresters, artists, musicians, explorers, businessmen, a former politician and even a convicted crook. In building this instrument and writing about the process, Larson has found an uncommonly creative way of telling his stories, teaching his lessons and enthralling his listeners.

Wholenote

Larson's wit and natural storytelling abilities are both apparent and appealing.

Beat

Larson brings to life a fascinating story of how a guitar was built using 3,562 separate pieces from all over the planet.

The Cambridge Times