Back to School...Blue-Collar Style

So my new boss gave me a book to read before I start; it's called Modern Carpentry. He had mentioned it to me last week, and I assumed it would just be a normal book, but when picked it up today, it was actually a textbook, complete with end of chapter questions.

I've read the first chapter regarding building materials, and there's definitely a lot more to lumber than I thought. Interesting side note: The book says that laminate boards made with the grains running parallel are stronger than with the grains criss-crossed 90 degrees at each layer. That just seems counter-intuitive to me...if anyone can explain this; please leave a comment on this post.

Anyway, I'll be spending the next few days studying Modern Carpentry. I'm fearful that I will become the quintessential college-educated-construction-guru with more book knowledge & theory than real experience, but I was able to fake it in my first job after college, so I think I can wing it here.

At the absolute least, I can pick up 4-5 obscure carpentry facts to throw out when the opportunity presents itself. Now that I think about it, this is just like college. I'm learning construction terms instead of business world jargon, but still with the end motivation being to regurgitate the info and make myself sound smarter than I really am. Maybe I'm not as far from the business world as I think....