Gardens of Persia

Rating:
Summary: BEAUTIFUL
Review: Once again Penelope Hobhouse combines her peerless practical knowledge of plants with a passion for research and a love of garden history. In her new book Gardens of Persia, she follows their evolution, from attempts to embody a vision of paradise to contemporary expressions of wealth and power. In all these spaces, with their distinctive template combining subtropical plants, buildings, and water, she finds that initial and powerful spiritual impulse always present, even where the imperatives of the world seem, on the surface, to be the motivation. The book is a beautiful production, with 150 specially commissioned photgraphs by Jerry Harpur, and a wealth of archival images and plans.

Rating:
Summary: Truly a book for all readers!
Review: This book comes close to being all things to all readers. That doesn't mean it's bland -- far from it. And if you don't feel like reading, you can simply enjoy the generous spread of illustrations -- maps, drawings and diagrams, beautifully reproduced Persian miniatures and above all the superb photographs by Jerry Harpur, a longtime specialist in capturing gardens and plants all over the world on film. Armchair travelers will enjoy the rare opportunity to lean more about what is perhaps one of today's least known cultural regions. Even philosophers will find food for thought in some of the quotations from Persian and Western writers: "The real gardens and flowers are within, they are in man's heart, not outside." (Rumi The Masnavi Book IV)

This is much more than a picture book: the name guarantees a literate and enlightening read. This book is not about gardening in the usual sense of how to grow certain plants in particular places at specific seasons: it covers the role of gardens in the social history of thousands of years of culture. But if you have a bare terrace or balcony, you will still find more than a little incidental inspiration in these pages. This book is a vast work of research, but it remains on a human level.

Hobhouse opens new windows with her short closing chapter on the Persian Legacy. Her best known example is perhaps the Taj Mahal, familiar from thousands of postcards and popular illustrations of all kinds. But she introduces us to equally interesting and beautiful examples in Kashmir and a number of fascinating gardens as far apart as Spain and Quebec (the latter a late-20th-century creation).

If at the end of the book -- or more likely after only a few pages -- you feel the urge to see some of Persia's finest gardens for yourself, Hobhouse has thought of everything. With typical thoroughness she includes a detailed reference list of some of the most interesting gardens with notes to guide you in drawing up an itinerary. Truly a book for all readers!
--Jane Ram www.asianreviewofbooks.com
02/06/2004

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: What a disappointment. Beautiful pictures of archaeological sites, architectural elements, desert scenery; pretty Persian miniatures, nice diagrams and drawings BUT where are the gardens? Oh, maybe after page 100 or so we start to see photos that actually look like the garden was the main focus of the picture. That's what I get for ordering books sight unseen, huh. I gave it a 2 because it was nice for what it was and because I lived in Iran in the late 70s and there were some nostalgic moments in it for me.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: What a disappointment. Beautiful pictures of archaeological sites, architectural elements, desert scenery; pretty Persian miniatures, nice diagrams and drawings BUT where are the gardens? Oh, maybe after page 100 or so we start to see photos that actually look like the garden was the main focus of the picture. That's what I get for ordering books sight unseen, huh. I gave it a 2 because it was nice for what it was and because I lived in Iran in the late 70s and there were some nostalgic moments in it for me.