"It's time to update the Pete book. What he implies are that there are basic strum patterns to be learned but he has few applications of it."

I'm not entirely sure I agree. That book has a lot of applications, they're just not always given in full (as Pete frequently points out in the book.

"What needs to be done now is to take Pete's arrangements and tab them out so that
the student can learn to do it his way and then make them their own"

I guess if you're suggesting someone publish a complementary "Pete Seeger Banjo Tab Tunebook" - of just tunes and songs, without the tuition, tabbed out in full, then yeah I think that'd be a nice idea.

It's an understatement to say he recorded a lot of songs though. Any such tunebook would still be highly selective.

I still think that if you were to work through most of the songs in his "How to" book thoroughly, you'd be able to work out most of his songs by ear: you do get a feel for how he plays.

Just for the record, I started playing banjo 2 years ago now, and the books I've enjoyed the most have been:

Pete Seeger's 'How to Play the 5-string Banjo'
Fred Sokolow 'Ragtime, blues & jazz for banjo' (not much jazz - mostly blues)
Barry Kornfeld Blue Grass Banjo: A Collection of 5-String Banjo Pieces in Scruggs and other 3-finger Styles (a misnomer really - its much more folky than it is bluegrass – strikes me as a very Seegeresque)
Miles Krassen Clawhammer Banjo
Alec Slater Clawhammer Banjo Solos (now available as 'Mel Bay's Complete Clawhammer book)

I don't really play clawhammer - I can, but I find three-finger style and up-picking so much more intuitive. I tend to adapt clawhammer tabs into my own thing.