The Amazing Book of Mazes [Hardcover]

Adrian Fisher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2006

From the labyrinth that bedeviled Theseus in his search for the Minotaur to the exquisitely sculpted hedge mazes of English country houses, the maze has been a source of great pleasure and frustration for centuries. In The Amazing Book of Mazes, award-winning maze designer Adrian Fisher presents over 350 photographs of more than 150 contemporary and historical maze designs, each one fully three-dimensional and interactive. In accompanying text, Fisher explains the complexities, innovations, and symbolism of each maze. Arranged by type, and including vertical, horizontal, and even mirror mazes, these mazes don’t all invite solution, but they do test the limits of one’s imagination. And with mazes enjoying a resurgence in popularity, the timing couldn’t be better for this beguiling, comprehensive history and celebration.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Maze master Fisher's comprehensive guide to the many aspects of mazes features a wealth of color photographs and detailed diagrams and a fact-packed text providing general history, theory and design principles, and descriptions and analyses of specific mazes. Working from the concept of the labyrinth as a 4,000-year-old archetype that symbolizes the demands of the spiritual path, Fisher presents examples of puzzle mazes ancient and more recent defined by a complex network of joining paths with dead ends, twisting, deceptive alleys, and an elusive goal, such as England's Hampton Court Palace. Sumptuous and mind-boggling are the numerous vertical mazes constructed of hedges--"the garden form of the art" during the Renaissance--as well as maize fields, masonry, inflatables, and panels. Contemplative, healing, and meditative are the two-dimensional, horizontal mazes constructed of turf and pavers. Complete with a glossary and listing of additional readings and resources, Fisher's maze book belongs in architectural and cultural phenomena collections. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Adrian Fisher is the world’s leading maze designer. He has designed over 400 mazes in 23 countries since 1979 and is the holder of a Guinness World Record for his design of Stewart’s Gardenland maize maze in Dorset, the world’s largest temporary crop maze. Fisher lives in Dorset, England.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 1st ed edition (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810943115
• ISBN-13: 978-0810943117
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,079,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diverse real-life mazes around the world, May 19, 2011

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Amazing Book of Mazes (Hardcover)

Mazes are commonplace in puzzle books and can also sometimes be found in other books, newspapers and magazines, but this book is about full scale mazes that you only solve by walking round them. If you get lost, well that's just tough. I do remember that I once visited Hampton Court maze (featured in this book) but I don't think I've visited any other real life mazes. Still, this book may encourage me to visit a few more in my retirement. Not that one actually needs to visit them to enjoy this book, which is really about the mazes as an art form. The author rarely gives tips about how to solve these mazes, although as some of them are illustrated by aerial photographs and/or diagrams, that might help if you think you need it. Personally, I would regard that as cheating. If you visit a maze knowing how to solve it, what is the point? Some mazes illustrated were created primarily for their aesthetic appeal and aren't intended to be puzzles, but most are designed to be both aesthetic and puzzling.

The bulk of the book is taken up with vertical mazes - those in which the paths are separated by vertical barriers that are sometimes (but not always) high enough to prevent you from seeing the overall layout of the maze. These barriers may be hedges, panels (usually wooden), maize (corn), mirrors or occasionally other materials. Each is dealt with in turn. The rest of the book is shared between horizontal mazes, which are similar to vertical mazes but with very low barriers between paths, and quick mazes, which are a different concept entirely.

Longleat, which became famous for its safari park (and which I visited a few times with the family in its early years) now has several mazes that seem quite intriguing, though I doubt that I will ever return to Longleat. To add to the confusion, the big maze includes a few footbridges, but you can't use a vantage point on any of the footbridges because the view is blocked by wood panelling; other mazes that feature footbridges have sometimes been kinder to puzzlers by not blocking the view, so that people can look around. Elsewhere, maze designers have developed other tricks such as a series of gates, some of which are locked while others are not. The management have the option to lock some gates and open others whenever they choose, thus changing the solution to the puzzle.

Panel mazes may not always look as attractive as hedge mazes (though judging by the pictures, some of them are attractive, especially the Celtic maze at Legoland made from wattle), but they are easier to set up and maintain. They can be dismantled and re-assembled at will, so they can be set up during the summer months and stored during the winter, further reducing maintenance costs.

Maize may appear to be unsuitable, as it is a seasonal crop that needs to be re-planted, but some people enjoy the challenge of starting again each year. Some American maize mazes make use of double-decker footbridges.

I cannot really imagine what a mirror maze might be like to experience. They first appeared in the late nineteenth century, but since a new mirror maze was installed at Wookey Hole caves (another place I visited a few times as a child) in 1991, there has been a resurgence of interest in them.

The so-called quick mazes can be abstract designs, perhaps generated by computer software. As such, they can have different rules to conventional mazes. I question the right of some of these puzzles to be called mazes; they are definitely puzzles, but I wouldn't think of them as mazes if I hadn`t seen them in this book. However, they are interesting in their own way.

This is a fascinating book, but I regard the vertical mazes, which occupy the major part of the book, to be the most interesting. If mazes arouse your curiosity, you will find much to enjoy here.