Secrets of Origami: The Japanese Art of Paper Folding (Origami)

Rating:
Summary: The best is back
Review: My Great-Aunt introduced me to many things - astronomy, biology, and origami. This was in her personal library and when I'd visit we would always pull it out and make at least one of the figures in the book. She had already managed to do nearly every figure but she was patient and I would try my best to keep up. When she died, I looked for the book but it had mysteriously disappeared. I saw that it was back in print and I snatched a copy up right away. This is the best folding book that I have ever run across. It has models that range from the very simple to the VERY difficult. You can fold out of this book for a lifetime and never fail to learn something or see something new. A great book... grab it while you can and fold your heart out!

Rating:
Summary: The best is back
Review: My Great-Aunt introduced me to many things - astronomy, biology, and origami. This was in her personal library and when I'd visit we would always pull it out and make at least one of the figures in the book. She had already managed to do nearly every figure but she was patient and I would try my best to keep up. When she died, I looked for the book but it had mysteriously disappeared. I saw that it was back in print and I snatched a copy up right away. This is the best folding book that I have ever run across. It has models that range from the very simple to the VERY difficult. You can fold out of this book for a lifetime and never fail to learn something or see something new. A great book... grab it while you can and fold your heart out!

Rating:
Summary: One of the Great Classics, Finally back in Print
Review: Rejoice, origami lovers of the world: Harbin's "Secrets of Origami" is back on the shelves. One of the first of my 40+ origami books, the old, battered, early 70s hardcover still holds a place of honor on my shelf. This is one of the best origami books EVER published. For the beginner, it opens the door to a wonderful array of simple to complex models, for the advanced folder, it provides a survey of the best Western folding from that formative period of 1960s. Fred Rohm, Adolfo Cerceda, Ligia Montoya - these are names that must NEVER fade from the annals of origami. Buy this book. Use this book. Treasure this book. Very few like this have been printed before or since.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Great Classics, Finally back in Print
Review: Rejoice, origami lovers of the world: Harbin's "Secrets of Origami" is back on the shelves. One of the first of my 40+ origami books, the old, battered, early 70s hardcover still holds a place of honor on my shelf. This is one of the best origami books EVER published. For the beginner, it opens the door to a wonderful array of simple to complex models, for the advanced folder, it provides a survey of the best Western folding from that formative period of 1960s. Fred Rohm, Adolfo Cerceda, Ligia Montoya - these are names that must NEVER fade from the annals of origami. Buy this book. Use this book. Treasure this book. Very few like this have been printed before or since.

Rating:
Summary: A legend
Review: The book which launch my interest in origami in the late 60s. If not for the discovery of this book, my interest in origami would have been lost.

The models are still very fresh even for the origamist of today. There is a very good range from traditional models, simple models to the intermediate stage. An excellent first introduction to origami.

It contains works of experts who are not around today. Among my favourites are those by Ligia Montoya. Simple but extremely effective.

Nowadays origami experts tend to concentrate on details making folding the models extremely difficult for a beginner. I prefer to concentrate on representing the subject just right with just the sufficient details to differentiate the model and avoiding the complexity of folding it.

There are also models with sufficient difficulty to challenge the slightly more experienced.

A must for all enthusiasts.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the best origami book I've ever used.
Review: This was my very first origami book. I got it when I was about nine, and still have it more than two decades later. It is very well-loved, and completely falling apart. And still one of my favorites.

It contains a great variety of models by a number of different artists. Complexity ranges from very simple through expert. Some of the illustrations are less than perfectly clear (I never was able to fold the Llama, for instance), and the models by now are dated.

Regardless of that, this is still one of my favorite Origami books--partly because of the memories it brings back, but mostly because it is a wonderful survey of many artists and models.