Favorite Books

[PABonsai]

Hi everyone. I currently have 2 books, Bonsai by Peter Warren and Bonsai Basics by Colin Lewis. I would like to maybe get a couple more and was wondering....What are your top 3 favorite books? Feel free to comment with your top 3 (or less) books. Doesn't matter to me if they're old or new and I won't ask the "why", it's up to you to elaborate or not. I'm just curious because there are a TON out there and I'm trying to narrow down without buying all of them.

Thanks!

 

[Anthony]

Best bet is probably the first 30 of Bonsai Today.
Has almost everything for training plants.
Magazine begins to repeat after 31.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[LanceMac10]

Forest, Rock Planting & Ezo Spruce Bonsai by Saburo Kato

This exceptional classic is a wonderful museum quality bonsai treasure by the true master of forest rock plantings. Previously available only in Japanese, it stands as the definitive bonsai book on the subject and is a noble addition to the collection of top quality bonsai books now available in...

stonelantern.com

Principles of Bonsai Design by David De Groot

David De Groot's Principle of Bonsai design is the most complete how-to bonsai design book we've seen in over 25 years.There are over 500 photos and drawings to support Mr. De Groot's in depth discussions of bonsai art and aesthetics, traditional Japanese and Chinese bonsai styles, new...

stonelantern.com

Bonsai Deadwood by Francois Jeker - Out of Print

The number one book on the topic. Carving deadwood is a great way to elevate your bonsai from ordinary to exquisite. In this remarkable book carving master Francois Jeker delves deep into the art of creating natural looking deadwood. It's a must for any serious bonsai enthusiast. 6.5"x 8.25"...

stonelantern.com

Bonsai Aesthetics by Francois Jeker

This remarkable book applies the major principles of aesthetics to bonsai. It's full of ideas that will inspire and challenge your bonsai skill and understanding. And it has a wealth of beautiful color photos and illustrations. The author, Francois Jeker is an accomplished bonsai artist and...

stonelantern.com

Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees - Out of Print

Dan Robinson's approach is uniquely his own and shows profound respect for trees, nature, art; the whole process that we call bonsai. Bonsai pioneer is a good choice of words to describe who Dan is. The Picasso of bonsai might be equally good. I don't know if you'll ever see another bonsai book...

stonelantern.com

Bonsai Shohin Passion - Out Of Print

There is plenty to love about this remarkable book. Including a very extensive species guide with over 50 varieties. Big questions are answered including: How do you create Shohin bonsai trees? What techniques do you use for styling? What are the stages of development? What about soil, deadwood...

stonelantern.com

Fine Bonsai, Art and Nature - Out of Print

Fine Bonsai, Art & Nature is a stunningly gorgeous photo-artistic study of bonsai from public and private collections in North America and Japan, with photos by renowned photographer Jonathan M. Singer and highly informative text by the respected American artist, teacher, and publisher William...

stonelantern.com

B1CLASSART | Bonsai Bark

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

If you are still getting a good grasp on the basics, this pair of books by Harry Harrington are good.

Bonsai Books by Harry Harrington - Set of 2

These information rich books are full of in-depth articles, diagrams and many hundreds of photographs that illustrate the techniques involved in the development and care of bonsai.Both share an emphasis on bonsai from inexpensive or even zero cost stock. The author, Harry Harrington is an...

stonelantern.com

If you have the basics down, I'd just pick up Inspirations 1 and 2 by the same author.

A great non bonsai book that will up your knowledge game would be this one - its a semester or two worth of plant biology condensed down to an edible chunk. Its worth every penny of $16

Botany for Gardeners, 3rd Edition: Capon, Brian: 9781604690958: Amazon.com: Books

Buy Botany for Gardeners, 3rd Edition on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

www.amazon.com

 

[Calnicky]

Hi - I have recently read and enjoyed "Bonsai Life Histories" by Martin Treasure, 2002, Firefly Books Ltd. and "The Art of Natural Bonsai" by Dave Joyce, 2003, Sterling Publishing Co. Both books go through the life histories of various trees, explaining where they came from (nursery stock, landscape salvage, yamadori...) and how they were developed as bonsai from that point onward. Enjoy!

 

[PABonsai]

Wow nice. I don't think any of these are ones I had seen on eBay. I'll look into them. As a side question I found John Naka's books on eBay too. What would be a good price to pay? I saw an original 1973 I for $90 and found that to be way too high, but is it?

 

[just.wing.it]

I have learned that many bonsai books have "not the best" or outdated info.
I own about 6 bonsai books and I love them all....but I've learned more, good, usable info here on Bnut.....thanks to all of our great members.

Books are still nice to own and collect....and page thru with a strong drink.

 

[PABonsai]

I have learned that many bonsai books have "not the best" or outdated info.
I own about 6 bonsai books and I love them all....but I've learned more, good, usable info here on Bnut.....thanks to all of our great members.

Books are still nice to own and collect....and page thru with a strong drink.

I would assume that even if some techniques fall out of fashion that the basic styling points remain they same. I'm one of those who feels that until you have a solid grasp on fundamentals you can't truly "do your own thing" in every respect. So I am trying to get a better grasp on the fundamentals first....I do freely admit that in some regard books are just like BonsaiNut because there's still a fair amount of disagreement. Hell i'm still trying to wrap my head around whether I should pinch junipers or not before it comes pruning time next year!

 

[Carol 83]

whether I should punch junipers or not

What did they do to you?

 

[PABonsai]

What did they do to you?

Well for one, they are awfully prickly. That shit hurts!

 

[just.wing.it]

What did they do to you?

Bwahahahaha!!!!!!
Lol!

 

[just.wing.it]

I would assume that even if some techniques fall out of fashion that the basic styling points remain they same. I'm one of those who feels that until you have a solid grasp on fundamentals you can't truly "do your own thing" in every respect. So I am trying to get a better grasp on the fundamentals first....I do freely admit that in some regard books are just like BonsaiNut because there's still a fair amount of disagreement. Hell i'm still trying to wrap my head around whether I should pinch junipers or not before it comes pruning time next year!

Agreed.
And about the juniper.....no.

 

[PABonsai]

Agreed.
And about the juniper.....no.

See that's one of those things I don't get. If it's bad practice how did it get so engrained into the art? It's a freakin art that's +1,000 years old. I feel like some techniques should by now just be "the way to do it". It's in ALL the books I have read. If it didn't work wouldn't it have been known to be ineffective decades ago? And that is partly why I want more books. To get more exposure.

 

[just.wing.it]

See that's one of those things I don't get. If it's bad practice how did it get so engrained into the art? It's a freakin art that's +1,000 years old. I feel like some techniques should by now just be "the way to do it". It's in ALL the books I have read. If it didn't work wouldn't it have been known to be ineffective decades ago? And that is partly why I want more books. To get more exposure.

Lol, yeah, I hear ya....
I think that that may be one of those techniques I refer to as outdated.

Maybe they didn't have scissors....Lol!

Juniper are certainly interesting and more difficult to understand than a maple to someone like me.....I recall my early days of bonsai, thinking "how do they make dense foliage pads from this wispy scale type growth?"
Its something I'm just dipping my toes into now.
I have 2 junipers that I think are on their way to becoming respectable bonsai some day.
Its a slow process.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Wow nice. I don't think any of these are ones I had seen on eBay. I'll look into them. As a side question I found John Naka's books on eBay too. What would be a good price to pay? I saw an original 1973 I for $90 and found that to be way too high, but is it?

I have both of Naka's books and was fortunate to get them for under $70 each. However, the copies I have were both damaged in one way or another. They are really great books for the history of the hobby and for checking out techniques used back then, but you will find that the information in them can be very outdated at times, and could be detrimental to your trees if you don't live in the same climate that John did. So as collectors items or a physical piece of US Bonsai history to hold in your hand - totally worth it. If you want technique - well $90 will get you a couple of Bonsai Empire courses, or a few months of Bonsai Mirai, or copies of newer books with more modern techniques which might net you better trees in the long run. You can also find most of the techniques they detail in various forums online.

 

[Calnicky]

Wow nice. I don't think any of these are ones I had seen on eBay. I'll look into them. As a side question I found John Naka's books on eBay too. What would be a good price to pay? I saw an original 1973 I for $90 and found that to be way too high, but is it?

Looking at Amazon, John Naka's "Bonsai Techniques I" goes for $95 and up, so $90 isn't a bad price.

 

[PABonsai]

Looking at Amazon, John Naka's "Bonsai Techniques I" goes for $95 and up, so $90 isn't a bad price.

Well I'm avoiding Amazon. They have that David de Groot book for example. On stone lantern and the ABS website it's $35 and $32. On Amazon it's $100. So I take Amazon with a grain so salt! I found another Naka I for $40 on eBay which is why I was assuming $90 might be high.

 

[Calnicky]

Looking at Amazon, John Naka's "Bonsai Techniques I" goes for $95 and up, so $90 isn't a bad price.

(That said, I think I won mine in a drawing at a club meeting!)

 

[GGB]

Literati style penjing by Zhao Qingquan is dope as f#ck.

Field guide to trees of north america (kershner, mathews, nelson) Not bonsai specific but a must if you want to learn your natives

Japanese maples by vertrees AGAIN not bonsai specific but the second best book on JM, can't afford the best

Those are my current 3 best purchases, I can tell you that I've bought a TON of bonsai books and almost all were a total waste of cash. Except Nick Lenz's book because I resold it for double what I paid. Do yourself a favor and skip right past all the cheap ones, they're probably garbage. @LanceMac10 and @cheap_walmart_art named basically everything in my sone lantern cart right now. I can tell from sifting through enough crap that those will probably be stellar as well

 

[penumbra]

Sorry to hijack the thread but this: Though I do use Amazon a lot, I have been noticing a lot of craziness on pricing there lately. Like 2 bags of Optisorb on Amazon for $100 and it retails in stores like Fastenall for $10 a bag. There is a plant grow bukb I like that is $45 on Amazon and I just got them for about $12 each on eBay but I bought 12 of them. Lately it seems I am finding a lot of Amazon things seriously overpriced.