a close friend of mine loaned me the book on saturday - i read it once on sunday, and again yesterday (monday)

the book is more powerful than i can describe in a review. 5-stars, no-brainer.. read this book!

the orientation is more ideological than demonstrative or critical.. the relative shortage of (delightful!) examples leaves me wanting more. and as much as like loved this book, i would like to read the large glossy version titled "wabi-sabi: for people with ipods, large televisions, and who generally disdain reading" :)

in its existing form, the book is an easy and inspiring read. if you're intrigued by the beauty of a pair of worn-out shoes, the grime of a subway station, the cracks in a crumbling rock, a decaying leaf, etc.. this book may give words, insight and extension to your aesthetic perception. given the relative lack of high-fidelity examples, it may be hard for others to gain an appreciation of wabi-sabi through this book

wabi-sabi is primarily contrasted with modernism, providing a much more useful and forward-focused comparison than against its more classical/baroque aesthetic ancestors - however the comparison does imply an inappropriate (imo) us-vs-them context with modernism. modernism is concerned with the clean, permanent, undistracting, impersonal, etc.. wabi-sabi is about the dirty, organic, distracting and personal. the author positions wabi-sabi as occupying a subset of aesthetics that is *not* modern.. i don't know if this "anti" element is a crucial part of wabi-sabi (?). wabi-sabi would be more powerful to me if it were described only in terms of its own fundamental traits, without counter-reference to other aesthetic ideologies. i find my ipod attractive *and* i find decaying leaves attractive - is it possible there could be more one "good" aesthetic?! the author generally defines wabi-sabi as fundamentally antithetical to modern design aesthetics. for example, on page 9 he writes:

"wabi-sabi - deep, multi-dimensional, elusive - appeared the perfect antidote to the pervasively slick, saccharine, corporate style of beauty that i felt was desensitizing american society. i have since come to believe that wabi-sabi is related to many of the more emphatic anti-aesthetics that invariably spring from the young, modern, creative soul: beat, punk, grunge, or whatever it's called next"

otherwise, i don't know anything about zen buddhism - and the book left me wanting to know more

a close friend of mine loaned me the book this on saturday - i read it once on sunday, and again yesterday (monday)

the book is more powerful than i can describe in a review. 5-stars, no-brainer.. read this book!

the orientation is more ideological than demonstrative or critical.. the relative shortage of (delightful!) examples leaves me wanting more. and as much as like loved this book, i would like to read the large glossy version titled "wabi-sabi: for people with ipods, large televisions, and who generally disdain reading" :)

in its existing form, the book is an easy and inspiring read. if you're intrigued by the beauty of a pair of worn-out shoes, the grime of a subway station, the cracks in a crumbling rock, a decaying leaf, etc.. this book may give words, insight and extension to your aesthetic perception. given the relative lack of high-fidelity examples, it may be hard for others to gain an appreciation of wabi-sabi through this book

wabi-sabi is primarily contrasted with modernism, providing a much more useful and forward-focused comparison than against its more classical/baroque aesthetic ancestors - however the comparison does imply an inappropriate (imo) us-vs-them context with modernism. modernism is concerned with the clean, permanent, undistracting, impersonal, etc.. wabi-sabi is about the dirty, organic, distracting and personal. the author positions wabi-sabi as occupying a subset of aesthetics that is *not* modern.. i don't know if this "anti" element is a crucial part of wabi-sabi (?). wabi-sabi would be more powerful to me if it were described only in terms of its own fundamental traits, without counter-reference to other aesthetic ideologies. for me personally i find my ipod attractive *and* i find decaying leaves attractive - is it possible there could be more one "good" aesthetic?! the author generally defines wabi-sabi as fundamentally antithetical to modern design aesthetics. for example, on page 9 he writes:

"wabi-sabi - deep, multi-dimensional, elusive - appeared the perfect antidote to the pervasively slick, saccharine, corporate style of beauty that i felt was desensitizing american society. i have since come to believe that wabi-sabi is related to many of the more emphatic anti-aesthetics that invariably spring from the young, modern, creative soul: beat, punk, grunge, or whatever it's called next"

otherwise, i don't know anything about zen buddhism - and the book left me wanting to know more

It was not as good as I expected. I would not pay full price for it again, in fact, it did not stay in my collection but was bought by a used bookstore. If you are interested in a philosophical or spiritual aspect of art or writing, look elsewhere. While it is a lovely looking book, the information could have been found online for free. I would have been happier with a small book of Haiku.

This book has been very important for me in its ability to explain something that is hardly explainable - more to suggest the essence of Wabi Sabi and let the reader take it the rest of the way. Particularly in the second half of this slender book does the nature of Wabi Sabi come to life. It is a book I will continue to read on occasion, and it sits next to my Tao te Ching ready to be accessed at any time.

A good introduction to the history and basic concepts of Wabi-Sabi. It has good examples that are relevant to our culture and lifestyle. I wish it had better photos. But overall I recommend it.

This was a great intro to the ideas of wabi sabi. the use of modern art as a reference point is a very constructive way to describe "what is" and "what is not" wabi sabi. I definitely recommend this book for any artist or creative mind.

This is a small book, but takes awhile to appreciate and process. I am therefore still reading it, but am glad I bought it. It was highly recommended by a photography instructor - with specific recommendations on this author since there are many books out with this title.

An informative and enlightening introduction to the concept of 'wabi-sabi', that also succeeds at inducing the actual feeling of wabi-sabi, leaving you not only with a sense of heightened awareness, but wanting to linger in that pensive, slowed-down state-of-mind into which you are deftly drawn.

The book is unconventional and perhaps that is the beauty of it as it attempts to define the essence of the term Wabi-Sabi. It is important to be in the right frame of mind when reading this as it is philosophical, contemplative and yet, very relaxed, understated. It's a peaceful, poetic and elightening read. I've given it out as gifts in my designer circles.

This is a wonderful book giving insight to a world that doesn't understand there is beauty without perfection as defined in magazines.
As a designer people will often want to lean into a contrived, look that is staged.
This book validates it is often good to step outside of the box and make a space more interesting and creative by doing so. Using the unexpected material or leaving a space uncluttered, simple to give the eye a rest.

In general it is finding perfection in imperfection in life. Our perception of things change as we grow and view the world differently.
We can only hope in a world filled with diversity we learn to open up and this is a good little book to enlighten any reader.

The Japanese tea ceremony is popular in global literature, movies, and theater to the point of what seems a small cult following. Westerners wonder at its significance and find it mystic. "Wabi-Sabi" by Leonard Koren provides us with a glimpse of its underlying importance that can be taken as a symbol for the whole of the wabi-sabi aesthetic. To clearly define wabi-sabi in words is to destroy it. However, this book succeeds in preserving wabi-sabi's identity as a way of existence of all things in eternal transition.

Many people are intrigued by the Japanese way of "knowing without knowing." This book is a step toward some understanding of this concept that makes Japanese culture different from the West, although there are also similarities. Wabi-sabi is associated with the Japanese tea ceremony, but westerners do not understand that ceremony. Some think it to be simplicity. Others, tradition. Others, magic. They are all correct, but to express these all at once in words tears a corner out of the larger picture and sets the concept off kilter. Nothing is or can be perfect. Everything is in a stage of becoming. Even a stone is eroded by wind and water. When it is finished, it is destroyed, but it has also become another substance: dust. The dust will become something else - it will be gathered up in raindrops or hailstones or it will be washed out bit by bit to sea, any of these options deposited as sediment, once again to combine and become a stone. Anything perfect is dead or has taken on another form and will continue to do so in natural cycles. This is a small corner of wabi-sabi.

Koren's book is about seeing beauty, but not a beauty that the average American might expect, appreciate, or even take for granted. To put the concept of wabi-sabi into words is to lessen it. It is a way of knowing, but it is more a way of being. This book is physically short, but it is long. One must read it ten times and with each reading comes further understanding, especially in light of the photographic subjects included in "Wabi-Sabi" -- cracked pots, ferns, pieces of natural objects, a small dried fish, a wall. Normally, a Westerner would not see the beauty of a cracked pot, but this book can make that beauty understood.

The wabi-sabi realm is described by Koren to include a state of mind, moral precepts, material concepts, spiritual values, all combined with metaphysical properties. This last element is the state of passing through nothingness, either coming from or going to, and always one or the other - or both at once. When Westerners say that the journey in life is more important than the goals achieved, then they are grasping a part of wabi-sabi. The cracked teacup lying in the middle of a dirt road is more beautiful that the new teacup on the ceremonial table.
"Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers" begins with a historical consideration of wabi-sabi and some definitions that might be used to understand it. However, no verbal definition is completely correct or inclusive. After this first section, there is "The Wabi-Sabi Universe" in which Koren discusses all of its elements in an intriguing style. I read the entire volume in one sitting and have read parts of it several times over. The discussion of moral precepts is most interesting. "Get rid of all that is unnecessary" is good advice. In this consumer culture, Americans simultaneously throw away too much and accumulate unnecessary amounts of things. The explanation of the humble spirit that comes next is very important. Wabi-sabi rejects hierarchy, but it does not advocate anarchy. To this end, in order to enter a traditional tearoom, all participants must bend low or crawl into a small opening where they will find a simple room made from mud, paper, and bamboo. Inside, they put aside social position, politics, and rank and all are respectful to one another, all appreciating the beauty of one another and the simple objects of the tea ceremony. This is one of the spiritual values of wabi-sabi itself: Beauty can be coaxed out of ugliness. In addition, wabi-sabi is something that occurs naturally, not something that people purposely create, although some art pieces emulate the essence of wabi-sabi to their viewers.

"Wabi-Sabi" would be enjoyable and informative to readers interested in Asian aesthetics, nature, philosophy, art, and architecture,

By its very nature Wabi-sabi is difficult to define. It is an aesthetic best learned through observation and personal experience. However, as Westerners we have a need for everything to be explained with words and categories. We seek to make the intuitive, rational. If you are a person who best learns through the written word, this book is for you. It is well written and dispenses with a lot of mystical babble that is often used to explain Asian philosophy. However, if you are a visual learner, you may find this book disapointing. Too much writing and not enough visual examples of the Wabi-sabi aesthetic.

The book is small but it is an high concentration of
suggestions and also of information about the particular way of thinking wich is a peculiarity of
Japan, of cultured Japan, I think.
A reader should get his brain "empty" forgetting every western precept concerning aesthetics in order
tgo get in tune with a vague undefined mood which is
blooming when things are trying to reveal their souls.
While reading this book we should try to get into a sort of meditation and we should make an attempt to
perceive things through the scent of their sense.

The book is small but it is an high concentration of
suggestions and also of information about the particular way of thinking wich is a peculiarity of
Japan, of cultured Japan, I think.
A reader should get his brain "empty" forgetting every western precept concerning aesthetics in order
tgo get in tune with a vague undefined mood which is
blooming when things are trying to reveal their souls.
While reading this book we should try to get into a sort of meditation and we should make an attempt to
perceive things through the scent of their sense.

I bought this book in my pursuit of design concepts/ideas for a book layout. It is accessable philosophy on humility and dignity, and it moves your thoughts nicely into realms of material design. And if you plan on participating in a tea ceremony, as I did, you will appreciate the Wabi-Sabi concept that much more. A must read.

I bought this book in my pursuit of design concepts/ideas for a book layout. It is accessable philosophy on humility and dignity, and it moves your thoughts nicely into realms of material design. And if you plan on participating in a tea ceremony, as I did, you will appreciate the Wabi-Sabi concept that much more. A must read.

Unlike Taro Gold's glossy take on the subject (Living Wabi Sabi), this book illustrates Wabi Sabi principles with its plain and simple construction. Koren's design experience gives him a base to discuss Wabi Sabi on the material plane, and he moves from there into a brief but well outlined discourse of Wabi Sabi philosophy. If it had not left me hungry for more information, I would have rated this book with five stars. Perhaps, it deserves five stars for arousing that hunger.

"Wabi-Sabi is THE quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional ...." ... "Zen Buddhism. Almost since its inception as a distinct aesthetic mode, wabi-sabi has been peripherally associated with Zen Buddhism. In many ways, wabi-sabi could even be called the "Zen of things," as it exemplifies many of Zen's core spiritual-philosophical tenets."

The schematization of 'ineffable qualities' into a how to book. I find this deeply essentially offensive - if it were only idiotic I wouldn't care. To take what is probably the most sophisticated and subtle and DIFFICULT mind-unset ever expressed on this planet and reduce it to formulas, slogans and 'decorative schemes'. If you read this book and 'get so much out of it' and 'apply it with marvelous results to your daily life' or 'learn to accept imperfection in myself and others' you will probably not have a clue to what I'm saying.

As a graphic designer, I was very intrigued by the title of this book, and the philosophies contained inside, so I decided to give the book a shot. This is the type of book you blaze through in about 30 minutes, but will most likely want to keep for a lifetime as inspiration. Reason? Because there simply isn't another book of it's tone or mission.

The essence of Wabi-Sabi is that true beauty, whether it comes from an object, architecture or visual art, doesn't reveal itself until the winds of time have had their say. A cracked pot, for example, has an essence that a perfectly round pot is lacking. Beauty is in the cracks, the worn spots, and the imperfect lines.

As a graphic designer, Wabi-Sabi is the antithesis of what I pursue every day -- perfection in my typography, layout, tight invisible Swiss inspired gridlines, etc. Mathematical symmetry is an unshakeable mission for many in my profession, and the ancient philosophies of Wabi-Sabi rip a hole in the side of it.

I enjoy owning the book as a reminder that nothing in life, or design, is perfect. The very essence of life, work, art and nature is free of right angles, and chaos reigns supreme.

I love this book! It reminds me of the scene in "Brideshead Revisited" when Charles Ryder looks at the Van Gogh prints and travel posters decorating his room, and says, "I detected a jejune air which had not irked me before ... only the golden daffodils seemed to be real." Be warned: after you read this book, everything in your rooms will "irk" you except some wildflowers in a jam jar, an unpainted wooden table and one black futon. And you'll go insane if forced to stay at a Holiday Inn! Just carry some acorns and chestnuts in the pocket of your old sweater, and you'll survive.

A magnificent introduction to an aesthetic sensibility I was always aware of, and appreciated, but didn't imagine had a name. Thanks to this small but finely-honed book I now understand the intellectual underpinnings of a profound way of looking at the world. Wabi-sabi--the name of this beauty/mindset--is the perfect antidote to my frenetic, digital life. I've given this book as a gift to friends and have received many heartfelt thanks.

It brings to light a new way of seeing in an ancient way of being. It is a small simple book, fitting for its content, that allows you to open your senses as you read it. Wabi-sabi in a word explains what many know already, life is all there in nature. It also shows us the wonder of decay and the beauty concealed therein.