Customer Reviews

Modular Origami Polyhedra, Revised and Enlarged Edition

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

 

 

That rating is really 3 1/2 stars, because the book is better than just average. It may look slim, but it's chock-full of several models in each of many families of modules. Not hours, but weeks of fun (not to mention a lot of paper squares).

The problem is the presentation. Many models are hard to follow, especially when trying to put them together; more than once, I had to refer to another book to figure out what to do. Some diagrams are confusing, if not outright wrong (3-dimensional pictures are especially prone to this). Occasionally instructions are alluded to (e.g., in captions) that aren't there. There's a complete absence of cross-references between illustrative photos and instructions for folding them.

In short, a frustrating book. If the good parts weren't so good, it wouldn't be quite so frustrating.

I have been doing origami for about 10 years, and have had great success with modular origami (mostly from "Unit Origami" by Tomoko Fuse). This book has diagrams that are hard to understand, the colored side of the paper is not even marked so it's very difficult to know if you are folding correctly. There are no written instructions, only the bad diagrams and I could not make a single model from this book. Even the few photos of the completed models were in black and white and not very good photos at all. I would recommend Fuse's book or another modular origami book with better diagrams. For those that have had success with models from this book, congratulations, but even with my usual vast amount of patience it did not take long for me to throw this book across the room in frustration. However, I will say that the models are very unique and beatiful and if you can do them, they should be very satisfying. I am copying this same review for "3-d Geometric Origami" by Gurkewitz and Arnstein, for I felt the same was true of that book.

This book bursts with stunning models of various polyhedra. The directions, and models, are harder than in "Modelar Origami Polyhedra." The book opens with a nicely detailed section of polyhedra facts, including the numbers of edges, corders, face shapes and category of each shape, along with a definition of Platonic solids. For the non-mathematician, this information provides a nice grounding in polyhedra. The directions for each module are complicated yet clear. Occasionally the lack of color in the book proves a bit frustrating, but patience and double-checking can bypass that nitpicky problem. The one thing this book does not provide is guidance about connecting all of the modules. That is when authorial reassurance is most required! Nevertheless, this book will provide hours of pleasure for those with patience and nimble fingers.

I was really disapointed over this book. The drawings was to unclear and difficult to understand. And I am very sorry that I am not able to use this book.

This book would be a whole lot better if the diagrams were better than just black & white lines without any shading or anything to show dimension... You need to know what you're doing to figure out how to make the items in this book.

While the diagrams are not always easy to follow, intermediate + folders should be able to figure it out. If you can get over the black and white pictures in the book and imagine the models in colour, it is obvious that there are some very good models in this book (mainly interesting cubes).

Like most modular models, you will require some patience to fold these models, as you will have to fold many of the same things over and over again.

So in summary - great book, will need patience, but well worth the effort.