Building My Zen Garden [Hardcover]

Kieran Egan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2000

Kieran Egan had a fantasy. Inspired by a visit to a friend’s miniature Zen garden on a balcony in Nagoya, he returned home determined to build his own Japanese garden.
Like many men his age, with kids grown up and moved away, he was ready to tackle something new — and tackle was the right word. Even before he began, he had to spend days hacking at the overgrown thicket where his garden would be. At night, dreaming of roots with nothing to do but grow, he thought less about Zen masters than about Dorothy Parker, who observed, “Every year, back comes spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants.” In spite of the running conflict between Zen philosophy and his own rather slapdash methods, he succeeded in creating “a treat for the eye and spirit.” Like Michael Pollan’s A PLACE OF MY OWN, BUILDING MY ZEN GARDEN will appeal to men, and to women as a gift for men. In these prosperous times, when men of the baby-boom generation are often looking for something new, building a Zen garden could very well be it — even if, after reading and laughing at the author’s adventures, they never build one themselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In his first foray into the world of garden writing, Egan (education, Simon Fraser Univ., BC; The Educated Mind) endeavors to teach readers the principles that inform the design and meaning of Zen gardens through this personal account of building his own garden in Vancouver, Canada. Unfortunately, he does not quite achieve his goal. The narrative is an amusing and heartfelt chronicle of his Zen garden adventure with a desultory sprinkling of observations about the "Zen" principles that guided his work. Egan makes only passing references to unnamed Japanese garden books and web sites he consulted for his project, though readers interested in creating Japanese gardens themselves would have found a specific list of these resources useful. An optional supplement to more standard works on Japanese garden design.ABrian Lym, City Coll. of San Francisco Lib.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Kieran Egan, originally from Clonmel, Ireland, has published sixteen academic books. He holds two Ph.D.'s in education, from Stanford University and from Cornell. He is a professor at Simon Fraser University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (November 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618063781
• ISBN-13: 978-0618063789
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #551,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go to Amazon dot com and get it!, November 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Building My Zen Garden (Hardcover)

Get this book if you have been suspicious about the hype surrounding the Zen of garden building or if you want a hilarious account of a brave amateur confronting the sham purity of Japanese garden design. But this is also a serious and wryly understated account of how to confront the task armed with the basic philosophy of the design of a garden and teahouse, and as well, a humorous introduction to the kind of characters you might meet if you go past the DIY stores to meet the suppliers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fun book, September 20, 2006

By 

K. Straley (Kansas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Building My Zen Garden (Hardcover)

While this isn't an all inclusive guide to japanese gardening, its a fun and inspiring read. After reading this book I set about building my own japanse style garden; and while I didn't find myself referring to it for specifics of actually building the garden - I did find myself referring to it for motivation. Egan's self-effacing sense of humour is particularly enjoyable, as he struggles with such tribulations as moving a large rock, or dealing with a leaking pond (problems that I also found myself dealing with). I would highly recommend this book to any do-it-yourselfer thinking about building a japansese style garden.

3.0 out of 5 stars I must be missing something, June 21, 2011

By 

labologie (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building My Zen Garden (Hardcover)

Kieran Egan's account of building his backyard garden unfolds in what feels like real time. There are the painstakingly detailed accounts of the crooked fence, driving to the store to buy pond liner, and moving a large rock followed by sections on "putting in the support posts," and "laying the pavers." Building My Zen Garden is neither a how-to book nor a meditation on process. It's more like a collection of journal entries that are perhaps too long and too dry for my tastes. And while there's a part of me that is happy to see an academic take on a project with so little self-consciousness, another part of me is annoyed that Egan reduces the sophistication of Japanese aesthetics to a series of anecdotes about a backyard project.