I took up archery with instruction books, rather than an instructor. Time will tell if that was smart. I read a lot of stuff from websites and some from books. In the UMD library I could not find an archery book more recent than some time in the 1970s ! I guess UMD is not big into archery!
I read the following books:
"Shooting the Bow", Larry C. Whiffen, The Bruce Publishing Co, Milwaukee 1946.
This is an instructional book with charming mid-20th century black and white pictures written in a charming and humorous mid-20th century style. It has hand illustrations for stance, grip etc. It has a one page chapter about correcting errors.
"Archery", Lorraine Pszczola, W.B. Saunders Co, 1976
This is meant as an instructional booklet for college/school archery programmes. Filled with illustrations about stance, and grip etc.
"Archery for beginners", John C. Williams, Contemporary Books, 1976
This was the one I referred to the most. The archers in bellbottoms are a hoot. It also uses the words "sexy" and "groove". A true 70s book. It has some good advice about correcting errors.
My favorite book of these three is Williams' book because the advice on stance, grip and release are very well described and illustrated with photographs. Williams also explains the mechanics behind it all, which makes his writing more aesthetically pleasing foe me.
It helped me to read several books because there were differences in the material and advice, and I picked out those things that struck me as useful, or that helped me. There was contradictory advice about stance and grip, which illustrated to me that there is not ONE way to shoot an arrow!
Mostly it was the illustration and pictures that helped me from the books. A lot of text about archery is available on the web. Unfortunately a lot of the websites don't have pictures, so that's where you have to refer to the books.
Some websites that I find useful are:
Oh, and here are some things I found useful.
I read the following books:
"Shooting the Bow", Larry C. Whiffen, The Bruce Publishing Co, Milwaukee 1946.
This is an instructional book with charming mid-20th century black and white pictures written in a charming and humorous mid-20th century style. It has hand illustrations for stance, grip etc. It has a one page chapter about correcting errors.
"Archery", Lorraine Pszczola, W.B. Saunders Co, 1976
This is meant as an instructional booklet for college/school archery programmes. Filled with illustrations about stance, and grip etc.
"Archery for beginners", John C. Williams, Contemporary Books, 1976
This was the one I referred to the most. The archers in bellbottoms are a hoot. It also uses the words "sexy" and "groove". A true 70s book. It has some good advice about correcting errors.
My favorite book of these three is Williams' book because the advice on stance, grip and release are very well described and illustrated with photographs. Williams also explains the mechanics behind it all, which makes his writing more aesthetically pleasing foe me.
It helped me to read several books because there were differences in the material and advice, and I picked out those things that struck me as useful, or that helped me. There was contradictory advice about stance and grip, which illustrated to me that there is not ONE way to shoot an arrow!
Mostly it was the illustration and pictures that helped me from the books. A lot of text about archery is available on the web. Unfortunately a lot of the websites don't have pictures, so that's where you have to refer to the books.
Some websites that I find useful are:
- What beginners do wrong
- Use of a bow stringer
- Equipment selection tips
- Choosing arrows
- How to make your own bow stringer
Oh, and here are some things I found useful.
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