Beginning Origami by Pamela L. Wieten

Beginners BEWARE

Beginning Origami by Pamela L. Wieten attempts to show people who are not familiar with origami how to create four basic origami foldings. For a beginner this book will be very confusing and at times difficult to transition from one fold to another. The author does not follow the very basic symbols of what most origami books use to show how folding are done. You can clearly tell an amateur does the drawings because the foldings are not always true to how they should look. Basic origami books that are used to teach both adults and children follow four basic rules: 1) The book should contain at least ten foldings, 3-4 foldings to teach basic folding instructions. 2) Slightly more complex foldings to challenge them and to teach 2 to 3 more bases. 3) Leave one folding at the end that will challenge them and they should not be able to master right away. If they master all the foldings in the first try, their interest level will disappear. 4) Keep the instructions simple, meaning each drawing should represent one and no more than two folding instructions. Showing the beginner eight folding instructions at once will be very confusing for them.

I have been doing origami for over forty years, collected hundreds of origami books, taught children of all ages and adults including college students, developed beginner, intermediate and advanced origami instruction manuals. I could never with a clear concuss suggest this book to anyone I knew was interest in learning origami.

I received a free copy of this book from Dorrance Publishing in exchange for my honest review of the book.