A great book to introduce a beginner to Bonsai   November 17, 2002

A very good Bonsai Book   November 15, 2002

Somewhat disappointing at best.   October 25, 2002

This book does contain some great pictures, and SOME basic procedures to basic principles. However, Coussins leaves out a great deal of necessary information, and includes information that is in no way necessary; i found a good deal of this book to be completely useless to me as a beginner in bonsai. I could not recommend this book to anyone who is beginning bonsai.


The nicest book I have read about Bonsai   January 31, 2002
  17 out of 19 found this review helpful

"Now and again in Bonsai, or indeed any other art form, comes along someone who not only knows how to do this art but also, and more importantly, knows how to teach this art."

Bonsai for Beginners is much more that a simple beginners book. It takes you form the beginners points of reference up to intermediate standard in Bonsai. I am a beginner to intermediate grower and I was astonished at the breadth of information in this truly wonderful book. It is the most lavishly illustrated book on the subject that I have seen and I was riveted to the pages as it is a very easy to follow text. The step by step is practical in every sense and the subject matter made me want to go out and try them immediately.
Now and again in Bonsai, or indeed any other art form, comes along someone who not only knows how to do this art but also, and more importantly, knows how to teach this art. Craig Coussins is such a person and I would heartily recommend his writing to anyone that truly wishes to understand the subject.


r42thebar@aol.com   June 2, 2001
  62 out of 63 found this review helpful

Bonsai for Beginners is a superb book written by someone that obviously knows their subject. Unlike many other Bonsai books, this book shows you through many examples methods of achieving excellent results from this `art'. The photographs are simply amazing and I have never seen so many in a Bonsai book before. There are close on approaching 450 in this volume and while there is a lot of text, the text is easy to read and follow. In fact, I found myself sitting down and reading what I thought was a reference book. The quality of the writing is almost novel in its structure and very riveting. If you want to know how to make Bonsai then this is, without any doubt, the book for you. As you develop your Bonsai skills, you go to some of the slightly more advanced sections such as taking a cascade style, where the Bonsai foliage is cascading down over the pot and below the table and turning it upside down to make a wonderful informal upright tree shape. You really have to see this to appreciate it. The core of this book is its excellent series of step-by-step photographs covering all the techniques such as potting, pruning and root pruning, subjects that usually scare the pants of many a beginner. Scattered throughout the book are many wonderful examples of Bonsai from Craig Coussins own collection and prize specimens from a number of other Bonsai collections.

Craig Coussins shows you in a clear and concise way all the techniques that fill you with confidence to try these techniques for yourselves. Not only a `best buy' but also a truly necessary purchase if you are interested in Bonsai.