Now that I've decided to try to 'review' each book that I have cataloged, there will be books( like this one) where I may recall reading it some years ago, may or may not remember how or why I liked it, but still can recall only a few or maybe no details about the experience. ( )

In a very well done package (good design, good illustrations, good paper), a satisfactory brief introduction to a field of thought and practice which deserves to be known. An aesthetics of the ordinary, unfinished, simple and natural - and meaningful. To be read and re-read, while trying to figuring out traces of wabi-sabi in the everyday life. ( )

Beautiful book on Japanese design. It shows many types of craft with pictures and discussion. The section o fabric covers clothing, traditional and contemporary, rugs and furniture, furoshiki, kumihimo braids, and even sandals. ( )

My second reading!

I started the book, read a chapter and put it away for the night. Then, last night I read another chapter, and woke up in the middle of the night to read some more.
Finally, I woke up early morning to finish it

While I read it fast, it is a delightfully captivating work. It is one that speaks to the soul, and is one that is very relevant to todays times. When we are all chasing shiny 'perfection', a little bit of dirt, imperfection, nature allows us to feel the spirit of nature and of art.

Timely indeed. Leaves much room for thought and reflection.

And, it is pithy. You cannot gabble on about such concepts. They are truly to be internalised. ( )

I started the book, read a chapter and put it away for the night. Then, last night I read another chapter, and woke up in the middle of the night to read some more.
Finally, I woke up early morning to finish it

While I read it fast, it is a delightfully captivating work. It is one that speaks to the soul, and is one that is very relevant to todays times. When we are all chasing shiny 'perfection', a little bit of dirt, imperfection, nature allows us to feel the spirit of nature and of art.

Timely indeed. Leaves much room for thought and reflection.

And, it is pithy. You cannot gabble on about such concepts. They are truly to be internalised. ( )

"A moment before there were no blossoms. A moment hence there will be no blossoms...." ( )

The irony of trying to say something categorical about wabi-sabi isn't lost on this author. As a Western, modernist, taxonomically-driven type, I appreciated it, however antithetical it may be to the essence of wabi-sabi. Generally enjoyable as a pensee or exercise. It ends rather suddenly, which I found harsh given the tone. I read it on Danish modern furniture, but reflected on it in the overgrown garden with the stone patio my mother prefers "When it's gukhy, not clean." Honeysuckle wilts. The kiwi hides the moon. ( )

This pleasant book is an essay on a Japanese aesthetic concept, wabi-sabi, and its associated ethical precepts. The accompanying photos also try to convey the essence of the indefinable wabi-sabi.

A very thin book that explains the concept of Wabi-Sabi. Worth reading just to give you a new perspective. Maybe you don't want to internalize the concepts here, but you should try to use them as a method of seeing the objects and rituals in a new perspective. If you don't like that perspective go back to your old view. However, Wabi-Sabi seems to me, to be more sustainable view and aesthetic. ( )

One to read again and again. ( )

Impermanence, incompleteness, imperfection. Zen ideas through the medium of art. Delightful delicious confounding confusing. Brain ties in a knot while spirit sings.

It is of course an irony to review a wabi sabi book. But then I thought I could. ( )

Interesting topic I had never heard of previously, however, it seems to describe some of my personal philosophy. It is appropriate that I read it directly after Thoreau who also writes of the beauty of simplicity and natural objects. ( )