Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa



Reason for recommendation:
Best overall origami book. If you can only buy one origami book, then it has to be THIS one.

That was my impression when I first finished reading this book years ago. Years have passed since then, and my conclusion remains the same. This book is simply THAT good.

The main reason behind my saying is that this is the book that provides the broadest, most complete aspects of contemporary origami in a single book. From the most basic diagram notations to considerably complex models, from history to design theories, from math to applications, this book builds up your overall skill and knowledge about origami in a very short period of time.

The book contains instructions for 43 models, which, comparing to those in some of the best-selling origami books, might not exactly be the coolest models you've seen, but the point is that each of those models is meant for presenting a specific "theme", which could be a concept, a technique, or a design method, etc. With all the side notes in the book, it's like taking 43 private lessons covering all aspects of origami from the master himself. It is this unique way of organizing materials that makes this book so outstanding. I have never seen any other origami book that can cover such a wide range of aspects, while at the same time being so well-written, allowing even complete beginners to be able to follow. You can even use it as the textbook for a general origami course.

I would especially recommend this book to those who are fascinated by the recent trend of super-complex origami, thinking about getting in not knowing where to start. Although even the most complex model in this book isn't really super-complex by today's standard, by the time you finish all models in this book, you will certainly be ready for further challenges, and you will also possess some basic knowledge to begin your own designs.

Originally published in Japanese, this book now has both English and Traditional Chinese translations, and is not difficult to find online. Trust me and get yours today!

I finally met Mr. Maekawa in 7OSME in 2018. He's really nice!
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Comments

    1. 台灣嘛,不管是電影還是出書都愛搞一個好像會比較賣的名字,看習慣就好~
      我比較在乎的是裡面的詞彙翻譯得如何,而以這本書來說我是覺得是有在及格以上的,這樣就夠了。

  1. 請問:
    第60頁的禮物盒,主題是正反相同(iso-area)。但是最後的成品(在61頁),頂面正反相同,四個側面合起來算正反相同,但是底面只有單色,不符合正反相同(iso-area)的主題。
    有沒有辦法讓底面也正反相同?

    1. 歹勢有點晚回覆了。先解釋一下,iso-area 的定義並不是說摺出來的成品一定顏色分佈互反,而是只要 CP 本身山谷線反轉之後與原本等價就算。再來,要做到底面顏色也互反固然肯定是有辦法的,不過單就這個設計本身來說,應該是無法透過簡單的修改來做到那一點的,我想應該會需要本質上不同的設計。

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