Japanese 135 pages, inc. CD. Softback 19x26cms ISBN4- 7741-1880-X 22,20 euros.

I picked this up whilst paying a flying visit to Freising in Germany recently. The wonderful Viereck Verlag origami store has a reputation for making the best origami books and paper available – have a look at www.viereck-verlag.de to see their range. Like many of Kasahara’s books, it is a mixture of the old and the new, but all beautifully interwoven. You’ll see a traditional fold, then an exciting new way of using or adapting it. There’s nothing complex here, (apart from the Japanese language!) but there’s hours of fun and countless new ideas and variations for you to try.

Kasahara loves cubes and there are a number to try out. There’s also an amazing 3-unit design which creates two cubes, one cube inside another (then the other inside the first), a form resembling the 6 WBB design, then a stellated octahedron. Along with the attractive artwork and diagrams, you get a free CDrom with flash animations, videos of some of the “action” designs, mathematical ideas and lots more besides. All sadly in Japanese – I get the distinct feeling I’m missing interesting and useful information, but even so, it’s a delight to watch and gives a great deal of added value.

Overall, a delightful and attractive book that will offer something to any folder who enjoys geometry, attractive folding sequences and stimulating ideas. It would be wonderful to see this translated (how do they decide which books to do this with?) but any KK fan will want to buy this book.