When I began my career, people counseled that because writing can be hard (sportswriter Red Smith said, “There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”), I should write about things I knew something about and liked a lot.

That meant horses, fishing, and country music. Now some 40 year later, as you’ll see from my list of books, the categories have held up pretty well.

In addition to opened veins, researching and writing provided lots of opened doors, giving me the opportunity to do things I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do, from foxhunting in Ireland and show jumping at the U.S. Equestrian Team's headquarters to fishing many of the country’s fabled lakes, rivers, and streams to hanging out backstage at the Grand Ol’ Opry.

And the beat goes on.

TEACHING RIDING AT SUMMER CAMP (The Stephen Greene Press, 1972)

PANORAMA OF AMERICAN HORSES (Westover/Crown, 1973)

CIVIL RIGHTS, Vols. 1 & 2 (Facts On File, 1973)

GET A HORSE!: Basics Of Backyard Horsekeeping (Viking, 1974)

TAKE ME HOME: The Rise Of Country-and-Western Music (Praeger, 1974)

THE SECOND-TIME SINGLE MAN'S SURVIVAL HANDBOOK, with William J. Gordon (Praeger, 1975)

OLD AS THE HILLS: The Story Of Bluegrass Music (Viking, 1975)

HORSEBACK VACATION GUIDE (The Stephen Greene Press, 1975)

SCHOOLING TO SHOW: Basics Of Hunter-Jumper Training, with Anthony D’Ambrosio, Jr. (Viking, 1978)

THE WHOLE HORSE CATALOG, Editorial Director (Simon & Schuster, 1979, revised 1985, 1993, 1998)

RIDING’S A JOY, with Joy Slater (Doubleday, 1982)

ALL THE KING’S HORSES: The Story Of The Budweiser Clydesdales (Viking, 1983)

THE BEAUTIFUL BABY NAMING BOOK (Simon & Schuster, 1984)

RIDING FOR A FALL (Tor Books, 1988)

THE POLO PRIMER, with Charles Kauffman (The Stephen Greene Press, 1989)

THE ULTIMATE FISHING GUIDE (HarperCollins, 1996)

CAUGHT ME A BIG ‘UN, with Jimmy Houston (Pocket  Books, 1996)

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF THE AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE (The Lyons Press, 1998)

TWO BITS’ BOOK OF THE AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE (The Lyons Press, 1999)

ESSENTIAL RIDING (The Lyons Press, 2000)

THE ILLUSTRATED HORSEMAN’S DICTIONARY (The Lyons Press, 2000)

THE GREATEST HORSE STORIES EVER TOLD (The Lyons Press, 2001)

CLASSIC HORSE STORIES (The Lyons Press, 2002)

1001 SMARTEST THINGS EVER SAID (The Lyons Press, 2004)

1001 DUMBEST THINGS EVER SAID (The Lyons Press, 2004)

1001 INSULTS, PUT-DOWNS AND COMEBACKS (The Lyons Press, 2005)

1001 FUNNIEST THINGS EVER SAID (The Lyons Press, 2006)

THE BEST ADVICE EVER GIVEN (The Lyons Press, 2006)

1001 BEST THINGS EVER SAID ABOUT HORSES (The Lyons Press, 2006)

1001 BEST THINGS EVER SAID ABOUT CALIFORNIA (The Lyons Press, 2007)

THE HORSEMAN’S DICTIONARY, Revised Edition, with Jessie Shiers (The Lyons Press, 2007)

THE QUOTABLE BILLIONAIRE (Skyhorse Publishing, 2009)

WHAT TO DO WHEN A LOVED ONE DIES: Taking Charge At A Difficult Time (Skyhorse Publishing, 2009)