The Secret Techniques of Bonsai: A Guide to Starting, Raising, and Shaping Bonsai (Hardcover)
Review
“Incorporating advice from his son, a tree doctor, the author teaches how to produce splendid specimens.” — The Washington Post
Review
“Incorporating advice from his son, a tree doctor, the author teaches how to produce splendid specimens.” -The Washington Post
January 13th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
In short, my opinion is that this is an excellent book if you are serious about bonsai and would like to get started, or to complement your knowledge from other books.
Before I purchased this book, I checked out several books from my local library. Some books seem to show many pictures of finished bonsai without really getting into details and I feel as if I still don’t have the knowledge to even start on a bonsai. This book is a bit more helpful with step-by-step pictures from repotting to pruning, diagrams of undesirable branches, and methods of propagation.
There is a lot of information in this book that I read in this book that other books brush by, but I found helpful to me. Without a doubt, it is important to read different books because each author has their own views on certain issues.
Other books that you might want to look into are “Bonsai (101 Essential Tips)” by Harry Tomlinson and “The Bonsai Workshop” by Herb Gustafson.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
I do not recommend this book to the beginner who is just getting into Bonsai care-taking. This is more of a comprehensive book explaining how to create, shape, and nurture Bonsai trees. This book is very well written for and advanced level Bonsai owner. It goes into detail about how to start Bonsai trees, wire them, how to pick out the right environment, etc.
So if you’re beginning, I think you should pass this book by at first. If, however, you have been into Bonsai trees for a while, this is the book to go with.
January 14th, 2010 at 12:59 am
This is a fine work on Advanced Techniques for the Bonsai enthusiast, in particular giving full particulars on specialty tools and pruning shears in Bonsai Culture. It is kind of surprising the great tips one can get, from just the one paragraph tips that the authors son added after his father death. Very concise and precise is a great summary for this book.