Customer Reviews

Fascinating Origami: 101 Models by Adolfo Cerceda (Dover Origami Papercraft)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are some things about this book I enjoy. Many of the subjects are very cool and original. I love the Vulture. On the other hand, the diagrams are just strange. Each step would be 2 or 3 steps in another book. Difficult for beginners, I even had a hard time trying to figure out what was supposed to be happening in some of them.

I appreciate the fact that Adolfo came from a different school of origami, but many of his diagrams are cumbersome to fold and are (GASP!) modular. Many lack an "economy of folding" that makes a good model great.

Adolfo Cerceda's "Fascinating Origami" is by far the clearest, easiest-to-understand book of origami that I've found so far. In most books, there will be those one or two folds that throw you no matter what you do; not so here! His instructions include no text and at first glance seem very complicated, but are extremely accurate and easy to follow. If you want to learn some of Cerceda's models, this is the book to do it with! I have folded some of his models using other books, and found that the instructions there were much harder to follow and often used much more complex folds to achieve the same end. Lastly, I've found the original figures in this book to be more lifelike than most that I've folded. You don't have to use much imagination to see the life behind his models; many of his birds are especially realistic. I recommend this book highly to any person with a minimal background in origami. Its easy-to-follow instructions lead to some wonderful pieces of origami.

Foldings are poorly explained, very difficult for beginners

I would agree with other reviews in that this book does not contain clear instructions. Many individual steps are cramed into a single confused diagram. Most of the instructions lack clarity and a simple step by step approach that is common to how-to origami books. I also am of the opinion that many of the folds are not good, clean origami. Additionally, even in the diagrams, several of the end result objects do not look like what they are intended to be. There is a basketball player project where the end result looks more like E.T. holding a crystal.

More of the pages should've been used showing step-by-step instructions instead of short-cutting many of the diagrams into step-step-step by step-step-step drawings that look like the artist was as confused as most people attempting to use this book.

This book is not for beginners or intermediate users. It might be a good book for experienced users looking for a challenge.

After reading two grossly conflicting reviews, I decided borrow a copy of "Fascinating Origami" from a friend. My thoughts: this book is NOT for beginners - unless you ace all of Mensa's spatially oriented tests. On the other hand, if you have folded any of Montroll's medium-hard creations, you should be able to make it through the pictorial instructions without much trouble. (Most of the time. But use a scrap piece first, just in case.) The resulting models are also at a par with some of Montroll's best, making it well worth your while!