Current series: By The Book, RTELyricFM, Sundays, October 7- November 11

It’s all in the book.

Every trade, every pursuit, ever passion has one: a core book, a central text, a bible. It is a books people first encounter when they are training, but which always holds a special place in their discipline – and their hearts.

In this new series, Luke Clancy (RTE Lyric FM’s The Five Stages, RTE Radio1’s Soundstories) leafs through these essential volumes in the company of some people for whom these cherished volumes have a deep personal meaning.

In Medicine, that book would be Gray's Anatomy, the textbook that taught generations about the systems of the human body. For an economist, that book might be Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, the foundation of modern economics.

For a graphic designer, Josef Muller-Brockman’s Grid Systems is a guiding light, while for a naturalist, Robert Lloyd Praeger’s The Way That I Went is always in the rucksack. Likewise, no wine expert would venture to the South of France without a copy of Robert Parker’s germinal, Wines of The Rhone Valley, while Harold McGee’s scientific approach to cuisine in On Food and Cooking has inspired a generation of creative chefs.

In this new series, Luke Clancy (RTE Lyric FM’s The Five Stages, RTE Radio1’s Soundstories) leafs through these essential volumes in the company of some people for whom these cherished volumes have a deep personal meaning.