Essential Origami

Rating:
Summary: Great place to start and mature
Review: I bought this book to broaden the range of things that I could fold (knowing just 2 or 3 origami before reading this). It has exceeded my expectations. Not only did I quickly learn new things that I could fold, I also learned a broad range of fundamental patterns for origami, plus I found detailed instructions on complex models.

There are a variety of simple hat, box, flower, and animal models that you learn from the very start, but the patterns range up to much more complex models, like a wonderful Santa Claus origami that I've folded several times to add to Christmas presents. That one still takes me about half an hour to fold, but I'm working on it. This book covers many origami that can be made from a fairly broad set of basic folds, so you can go a long way with just this book.

The instructions are generally very clear with words and pictures for everything you need to do. The models do build on one another, however, and later in the book there are often back-references to previous pieces (which may themselves refer to earlier pieces). You should not expect to jump immediately to the most complex origami (unless you have significant prior experience, I guess).

I was prepared to buy a couple of books, if necessary, to learn a variety of interesting things to fold, but having purchased this one, I have not felt the need to buy another so far. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great place to start and mature
Review: I bought this book to broaden the range of things that I could fold (knowing just 2 or 3 origami before reading this). It has exceeded my expectations. Not only did I quickly learn new things that I could fold, I also learned a broad range of fundamental patterns for origami, plus I found detailed instructions on complex models.

There are a variety of simple hat, box, flower, and animal models that you learn from the very start, but the patterns range up to much more complex models, like a wonderful Santa Claus origami that I've folded several times to add to Christmas presents. That one still takes me about half an hour to fold, but I'm working on it. This book covers many origami that can be made from a fairly broad set of basic folds, so you can go a long way with just this book.

The instructions are generally very clear with words and pictures for everything you need to do. The models do build on one another, however, and later in the book there are often back-references to previous pieces (which may themselves refer to earlier pieces). You should not expect to jump immediately to the most complex origami (unless you have significant prior experience, I guess).

I was prepared to buy a couple of books, if necessary, to learn a variety of interesting things to fold, but having purchased this one, I have not felt the need to buy another so far. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Book If You Like Origami.
Review: The rating is really supposed to be 4 1/2 on top.This is a good book to start with for all sorts of people, beginers to experts. It offers a wide variety of models including unit/modular origami, some of my favorite areas in origami. It is also in good order : from easy models to hard models. It is rated 4 and a half because there are only about six models or so on each base that it offers. Good if you are a beginner to high itermediate. All in all, a good book.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best begining books on origami
Review: The short version of this review is: Wow. What a perfect book. What a classic. Wow. The long form is: As a student, I adore it. As a teacher, I adore it. As a gift-giver, I adore it. When I was on jury duty and wanted something to do that I could share with and teach to other people, it was the first book I looked for. When a friend wanted to learn, it was the first book I lent. When I forgot to buy a guest-gift the first time I met my boyfriend's parents, it was one of the two books I brought on the plane with me so that I could whip up something miraculous-looking without much time to work with (the other book being Tomoko Fusè's "Unit Origami", a classic of a very different sort). When looking for folds to memorize for those times when you need to fidget with something, it was the book I turned to; the Double Heart fold is one of my favorite fidgets. The short short version is: Buy it. You won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent first origami book, will hook anyone
Review: This is a superb book about folding origami. It has simple instructions with clear folding diagrams and groups the origami models around simple to fold 'bases' so that once you learn how to fold a bird base, for example, you can learn how to make a half dozen models with the same start. Excellent for all ages. This is one of my favorite origami books that I regularly come back to

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for beginers
Review: This is the perfect starting origami book it has wonderful digrams and most the models are pretty simple even the dragon shown on the cover is pretty simple, although there are a few harder models. The one downside to this book is there aren't very many origanal models although the ones that do exist are very cool. people just starting origami haven't seen that many models so what i just said isn't a problem for them. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn the art of origami