When I introduce myself and say I was a cooper, most of the time I get a blank stare.  At best a look of feigned, but uncomprehending interest.   In the few seconds before I can explain, I can see the people’s minds questioning.  “A what? That term is familiar, but don’t actually know what it is.”
   A “Cooper” is a maker of wooden barrels; those for wine, whiskey or other commodities.  During my thirty years in the industry, I must admit, I was better at organizing and managing, than actually crafting the barrels.  Nonetheless, those thirty years allowed me to experience the full range of cooperage activities: the building for, and the utilizing of barrels in wineries and distilleries; repairing used barrels; manufacturing and assembling large wine tanks; and traveling the world to see how all this cooperage was employed.  At the end of my cooper career, I wrote a book relating the 2000-year-old story of barrels entitled: Wood, Whiskey and Wine: A History of Barrels.
  There are not many coopers in the world; perhaps a couple thousand.  This craft, way outside of the mainstream job market, was typical of the kind of activity and career choices I made; a gymnast in high school and college, attended a small university in Montana, became a submarine officer serving in the US Navy for several years, outdoor education teacher and then winding up as a cooper.  
Being a bit off the ‘normal’ radar for my career path had an advantage: I tend to examine what is around us from a slightly different perspective.   A second book, The Shape of Wine: Its Packaging Evolution, is an example of this lateral thinking.  
  A third book is in the works (pardon the pun).  I’ll return to exploring the history of barrels by examining the numerous commodities, from the 1400s through to today, which were transported, aged and contained in wooden barrels.  I'll let you know when its published.