Origami Zoo: An Amazing Collection of Folded Paper Animals

Even though the final models are *extremely* complex, the book begins with very interesting texts about origami origins, evolution and approaches to creation; and the models go in progression from the very simplest ones. So actually this is an excellent "transition" book - if you have some experience with origami and have the ambition to try more complex stuff, there cannot be a better book than this one to guide you. The diagrams are crystal clear, and so are the indications. I got this book when I was 11 (I'm 24 now), and it is still every bit as amazing an enjoyable as back then!!

Origami Zoo is yet another book my boys and I got from our local library. This book is by two of the BEST Origamists around, in our humble opinion.We will be watching for it on ebay. While we are all beginner/intermediate folders, we are AMAZED by this book. There is nothing in it we don't like, but only a couple so far we've been able to figure out. It is WELL written. All the basic folds one needs, are clearly shown and explained at the front. While it has black and white illustrations, they are fairly easy to follow, and the written instructions are very good, IF you already know something about Origami. There are very nice & clear pictures at the beginning of each model, to show you how it looks, finished. I like that.If you are intermediate to advanced, I would say this book will keep you busy for MONTHS, maybe years. FUN, EXCITING, "CHALLENGING" ! I can't wait to get past the cool Dolphin, which I got pretty quick. If you are just starting out, don't be like us, find an easier book to begin with. Highly recommended!!

There are three things you should be aware of when buying this book:First, if you have less than one year of folding experience, hands off! Rather try out some of the less complex origami books out there, e.g. "Origami from Angelfish to Zen" by Peter Engel.Second, ordinary origami paper as you can buy it in craft stores won't get you very far here. For several models in this book, standard paper is simply to small in size for the elaborate folds. Rather go for florist's paper or tissue foil (my personal favorite).Third, this book contains SOME OF THE VERY BEST ANIMAL FOLDS out there! The Praying Mantis, of course, which is improved a lot over Lang's first Mantis that is published in the internet. But there are a lot of other great folds in here, e.g. a very realistically looking Bear, a Rabbit, several nice color-contrast explorations like the Panda and the Skunk and one of the best crabs out there.A must-have for any serious folder!

This book deserves 5 stars just for the praying mantis...probably my favorite model I ever folded. So completely true to life, it's scary. My dad was never very impressed with my origami, but many years ago when he saw that mantis I folded sitting out on the table, he swiped it to take into work to show off. So I folded another one just for him, which he still has to this day. My only complaint is that this model does not use square paper, but a little measuring and cutting is well worth it for the finished result. There are plenty of other good models in here, the crab, the eagle, etc. There are some intermediate models to get you started on (dolphin, penguin, swan), but this is definitely a book for an experienced folder and will take some practice and patience to get through the harder models. The mantis is not the only model with non-square paper, and I find that Lang does have a tendency to be fairly sparse on his diagramming in comparison to someone like Montroll who really doesn't skimp on helping you through the intermediate steps. This does make these models a bit more challenging than they would be if more thoroughly diagrammed, so if you are a fairly new origamist, I would recommend starting with some of John's books before moving up to this one. Even with my experience, some models like the butterfly continue to frustrate me due to some steps that I always seem to get stuck on.

This book contains dozens of origami animals, ranging from med to highly-complex. At first we may doubt this is just another routine four-leg animals. However, two authors give us models unexpectedly various, and most of the figurations are wonderful. We have some of the most beauitful modeling here: A crab, a eagle in full-spread wing(with the feathers!), A dog in the doghouse(single paper), A very vivid rabbit. And the folding steps are full of wonder. The only disadvantage in this book is that for a new folder the diagrams are very neat and succinct, usually Several steps combined in one diagram. But this deserves since this book contains so many models and they are arranged by level of difficulty. This is a must for any origami fan.