Back in the mists of time, I had a semi-regular feature called “It’s Pants”, where I would lay into a low  quality origami book. I’ve been inspired to do the same recently for an epic called “The Origami Book”, self-published on Amazon by Jennifer Hoffmann (“crocheter, crafter, Origami expert, wife, and busy mom of three”). I picked it up in a collection I bought cheaply on ebay, enticed by the inclusion of two Fuse books.

The cover is bright and it contains 216 pages. But from there it goes downhill. There are sections on “What is origami” and “the educational benefits of origami”, but a quick google reveals the text is “borrowed” from various online sources and, of course, is not credited. A diagram by our dear, departed David Petty is included. The models are simple and mostly traditional, but laid out and annotated in the most unappealing manner you could imagine. The text is flush up to the (greyscale) photos and the line spacing is far too large. The text is poor. “And with this phantastic dragon, symbol of Eastern mythology. we conclude our guide. I really hope you have enjoyed our work and I remind you that your opinion is fundamental for us. so I invite you to leave a review. thank you so much and greet you.”

It seems crazy to go to the effort that even this miserable book must have taken and yet to fall so far short of acceptable is depressing. With even a little graphic design it could have been so much better. The printed version seems to be out of print (hmmm) but you can pick it up as an “Audible Audiobook” – the mind boggles! One to avoid, in my humble opinion! I’d give it to the nearest charity shop, but it might deter some poor reader from enjoying our art….