Customer Reviews

Wabi Sabi Simple: Create beauty. Value imperfection. Live deeply.

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

 

 

In this book, the author looks at the everyday and finds the magic in it. His prose quickly engages and literally sets a mood that helps readers appreciate the ideas he is writing about. In other words, the book itself is an example of what makes Wabi Sabi consciousness special. Although, let me quickly say that Wabi Sabi is like Zen--as soon as you think you have a grip on it, it slips away. With chapters like Wabi Sabi at Home, Wabi Sabi Friends, Wabi Sabi at Work, and Wabi Sabi in the Garden, the author gives us methods and perspectives for more fully appreciating what has always been right in front of our eyes. I have seldom read a book that puts you more in the mood its subject. I highly recommend this book.

I found this book a bit of a challenge initially because my left, analytical, logical brain was searching for a step-by-step description of what wabi sabi is. Having never heard of wabi sabi, at times I wondered if someone had pulled a fast one me with a spoof of Eastern beliefs and the way Westerners embrace them. As I continued to read I realized that Powell was teaching wabi sabi by writing, shall we say, in a wabi sabi style. He never provides a clear definition, yet his beautiful prose conveys the sense of what wabi sabi is. Powell is a very talented writer, and the book is worth the price just for the prose - elegant, tight, beautiful imagery with sometimes powerful and sometimes subtle metaphors. I would recommend this book as an initial dip into the waters of wabi sabi, with further exploration the responsibility of the reader.

This book is masquerading as a book about wabi sabi, but it actually is a collection of rambling, disorganized, incoherent personal journal entries. The topics include some of the most random and inconsequential subjects I have ever encountered. I have many books on wabi sabi and even the how-to books on things such as the wabi sabi house or the wabi sabi garden cover a deeper level of the philosophy in 4-5 pages than this entire book achieves. This is one of those books that you start reading, and within the first sentences you see, immediately start thinking of how to dispose of it. I would feel guilty selling this book to anyone else because it would not only be a waste of the buyer's money but the buyer's time and shelf space. This is, quite seriously, the worst book I currently own.

Maybe not THE book on the subject but certainly a worthwhile read. I don't understand the one star reviews.

This is the first book I've read about Wabi Sabi. Fascinating and well-written with a gentle and informative style. I pick it up quite often to re-read a chapter or so.

great read, literally couldn't put it down. great messages. great book to scribble all over and write your thoughts in while reading.

If I could personaly thank Mr. Richard Powell, for the imence amount of good his work has done for me, I most certainly would. The fluid writing and insightful message of Wabi Sabi Simple has helped me put my life back on track. I can now enjoy life as it passes, each moment is worth more, I no longer worry about small things to the point at which i can no longer enjoy the good. Alot of the examples in this amazing book, such as changing orniments or pictures really does help to let you notice the surroundings in your own home, and you no longer feel as those every day is just like the last. So once again I would like to thank Mr. Powell for the good his book has done me and my family.

Yours Sincerly
Sir. Phillip Heyes III

I bought this book while on a business trip and I planned to read it on the plane home. I could not put it down. In fact, I deliberately read it slowly to understand it better and also to have more to read after I got home. In the process I learned many things wabi sabi like naikan, Quaker plain living, mimetic theory, haiku, the way of tea, etc. So I, too, don't understand the one star reviews.

The author has little first hand knowledge of the history or experience of the subject.

This is not a good book. I got very little out of it.