Customer Reviews

Tiki Style (Icons)

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

 

 

In much defense of "Tiki Style", this book is really about making a conservative friendly,nudity free version of the Book Of Tiki so it could be sold in retail locations like Old Navy. It has most of the same lovely photos sans bare breast and wooden phalluses.

The book itself is slightly larger than a pocket size book. Its inexpensive, which make it a great gift and/or introductory book to show others without fear of damage to one's copy of the Book of Tiki. Guilt free.

This book is more of a tool for those already beholding of tiki and a photographic intro for those just starting to learn the imagery of this era of Americana pop culture.

I was looking forward to reading this book as I throughly enjoyed Kirsten's 'Book of Tiki' and the synopsis of this book led me to believe it was a new work by Sven Kirsten. I was quite dismayed to find that 'Tiki Style' simply appears to take 18 of the 23 chapters in Kirsten's 'Book of Tiki' , cut out a good portion of the chapters' accompanying photos along with their captions, and reprint them under a new title. I could not find a single image or line of text in this book that hasn't been directly copied over from 'Book of Tiki' (even the chapter titles remain the same). This book's only saving grace is the price makes it an affordable alternative for anyone who can't get their hands on a copy of 'Book of Tiki'. However, if you already own 'Book of Tiki' you'd be wise to stay away from this one.

This book is packed with photos of artifacts from the golden age of the Tiki subculture, a psuedo-South Seas phenomenon which reached its height in the late 1950s and 1960s. Like most Taschen books it is well-illustrated and discusses the subject matter in enough depth to give the reader a good feel. A good reference book for collectors or decorators!

I've been looking for books on the Tiki Craze of the 50's and 60's. This book is a pocket version I'm told of a bigger book which I plan on getting. This book is awesome and for lack of a better term kitschy. I hate that word so much but its the only way to describe it. It is also a beautiful work of art that belongs in any greaser or cool hep lounge lizard's bachelor pad. The book is very informative documenting the beginnings of the Tikis when the polynesians worshiped them as gods of good luck and fertility and how the boys of WW2 brought back with them from the tour of the pacific, the tiki.
There is awesome photographs of old Tiki restaurants and bars like Trader Vic's and Beachcomber Don. There is also pictures of some of the cool tropical elixirs that sent many a grey flannel man wifting along on trade winds to the warm gold beaches, the emerald seas and the topless native women. It also chronicles Tiki theme parks, hotels and cool swinging apartments for the bachelor minature jungles of love. There is some very embarrasingly funny politically incorrect attitudes towards the actual polynesian culture that created the Tiki movement in America.
It seems here in America when ever anything is past a year old its considered garbage and thrown out. To me thats a disgusting attitude and it needs to change. We need to learn from the past. Pretty much we live in a era of conformity and BS like the 50's. It seems we need to loosen our belts again. The Tiki back yard party was a way of shedding the inhibitions both sexually and mentally placed on that generation by their prodecessors. Rockabilly and Rock n' Roll helped the teenager in the 50's shed inhibitions, so the Tiki party did that for the adult. It was a chance to be somebody else and be a kid again. We sorely need that in this day and age. This book is a great read and I plan on buying the bible version of it.