Building My Zen Garden

by Kieran Egan

Book Overview

Kieran Egan had a fantasy. Inspired by a visit to a friend"s miniature Zen garden on a balcony in Nagoya, he returned home determined to build his own Japanese garden. Like many men his age, with kids... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618063781
• ISBN13: 9780618063789
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

fun book

While this isn't an all inclusive guide to japanese gardening, its a fun and inspiring read. After reading this book I set about building my own japanse style garden; and while I didn't find myself referring to it for specifics of actually building the garden - I did find myself referring to it for motivation. Egan's self-effacing sense of humour is particularly enjoyable, as he struggles with such tribulations as moving a large rock, or dealing with a leaking pond (problems that I also found myself dealing with). I would highly recommend this book to any do-it-yourselfer thinking about building a japansese style garden.

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Get this book if you have been suspicious about the hype surrounding the Zen of garden building or if you want a hilarious account of a brave amateur confronting the sham purity of Japanese garden design. But this is also a serious and wryly understated account of how to confront the task armed with the basic philosophy of the design of a garden and teahouse, and as well, a humorous introduction to the kind of characters you might meet if you go past the DIY stores to meet the suppliers.