Check out the American Bamboo Society source list for distributors of bamboo books. There are several effective curing regimens for bamboo. The process sometimes includes soaking out the sugars and treatment with boron salts. The minimum treatment skips these steps and moves immediately to drying. Drying normally must be done in a controlled manner with lots of air circulation, a method to avoid having the culm take a curved set, and protection from cracking resulting from overexposure to direct sunlight on one side only.
Designs using bamboo can successfully work the material in compression on tension.
Torsion is difficult. Successful applications usually treat the poles as if they were stiff members of a pinned structure. They are not like timbers capable of accepting a few nails to produce an acceptable cantilever. Finally the fasteners are very important. Bamboo is round, usually hollow, slick skinned, and splits longitudinally with ease.