Spirit Stones: The Ancient Art of the Scholar's Rock

This book is huge (12 x 15 inches, 236 pp. , 280 duotones of over 140 stones, over 7 lbs shipping weight). The quality of the paper & stitched binding on the clothbound, dust-jacketed and slipcased book are superb; the book is printed in China. It would seem impossible to put these together at the small price requested for this book by several internet vendors, who will forego domestic (USA) shipping costs. Amazon's website notes the book as paperback, but I received two copies from Amazon, and they were both cloth-hardback, dust-jacketed & slipcased editions.The stones photographed are from Kemin Hu's collection, and she writes a pithy summary on the aesthetics and appreciation of them. Kemin also comments on each stone. Adding to understanding of aesthetic standard [i]chou[/i]/"ugly," Kemin shares how an "exaggerated" or "distorted" found-object can surprise us with its elegance.Tom Elias covers several areas of Chinese stone appreciation including history with rigorous scholarship and thoughtful pointing.Jonathan Singer's photographs are described as "duotone" (not full-color images, I would have called them "black & white photos"). They are distinct in projecting the simplicity & humility of the stones.At first blush, both the stones and their photos might not hold your attention. Look, again, and it might be difficult to turn away. Appreciation of their charm requires the viewer's receptivity. Once I started flipping between the large photos & their thumbnail photo descriptions in the appendix, it was impossible to stop until I had seen them all.At its hefty size & weight, the text is arguably a chore to read. Amazon is taking orders for a Kindle edition to be released in February. The Abbeville Press (book publisher) website notes that an eBook will be released, soon. This should be a boon to the book's distribution among an international audience of _gongshi_ enthusiasts.The hardback edition is an unbelievable value considering the quality of its content & production.

A terrific and beautifully made book on the subject. If you’re interested in this art form, you’ll love this book. Very reasonably priced, too.

This is a well formatted book and I am very pleased with my purchase.

For all who are interested in stone viewing and in getting background information on the way of using them over ages in the East and in the West. The best book on this topic that I've seen till so far. Highly recommended!

Best images of Suiseki that I've seen. If I could have just two books on the subject, this one, and The Suyan Stone Catalogue would be them. I had a misprint on one page, but I figure that could make it collectable one day.

Excellent!

This indeed is a beautiful and well constructed book, but why are there no colour plates, is it because black and white is supposed to be more artistic! personally I think colour plates would have been a far better option, there is a lot of beauty in the colour of stones, as well as the shape of them! I was very disappointed, maybe I should have paid more attention to the description of the book before I purchased it. Also i'm not impressed with the seller, the book was damaged upon receipt, but not the kind of damage caused by the post, the slip case and book are bent like a heavy weight has pressed the book out of shape, i'm extremely disappointed with the seller, this a very expensive book, and it appears that I cannot exchange it, which is unsatisfactory! Beautiful book though, I guess I was just unlucky, I wouldn't recommend buying anything from this seller!

This is an excellent photo book with perfect photos by photographer Jonathan M. Singer of stones from the Kemin Hu Collection. The black and white photos are great while the text provides clear information on the art of stones, 'gongshi' or 'spirit stones' from different periods in history and from different Chinese areas. Spirit stones are highly inspirational and challenge mind and imagination. Highly recommended.

Livre reposant et magnifique, mais lourd et encombrant