Buddhist Stupas in Asia: The Shape of Perfection

Rating:
Summary: A Neat and Concise Work
Review: Buddhist Stupas in Asia: The Shape of Perfection by Bill Wassman (Photographer), et al, offers a sweeping and broad overview of the epitome of Asian Buddhist architecture. The photographs are good and the succinct commentary is informative enough. This is not a book for hardcore history buffs though, as the very short accompanying analysis would not suffice; nevertheless, in most cases the photographs more than compensate by offering quality glimpses of a divine form of architecture. One drawback: some of the photographs are too small for the subject to be really appreciated (some are as small as approx. 3cm x 3cm!). All in all: an enjoyable mind-trip through the very essence of Buddhist architecture.

Rating:
Summary: Joe Cummings and Great Photography
Review: This book covers Buddhist architecture across its known history, from its origins in Northern India through Southeast Asia to Indonesia, to Nepal and Tibet, into China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The emphasis is clearly on architecture, but it covers the relevant backgrounds in Buddhist art and philosophy as well. If you want a book about Buddhist cultures or thought, this is not it. But if you want a book about Buddhist architecture, this is a great beginning. It is well-written, well-designed, and the photography is excellent. I wish it were much longer and went into much greater depth... but then it would be much more expensive!

I received this book as a surprise gift, and I think it makes a great gift: it's the kind of thing someone would want and enjoy, but would not buy for themselves.

The author, Joe Cummings, also writes the Lonely Planet guidebooks for Laos, Thailand and Myanmar (Burma), and they are excellent. I've been to all three places, and so I've seen many of the stupas covered in this book, and his guides have helped me more than most do.

Rating:
Summary: a must for Asian art lovers
Review: When I opened this book in the bookstore, I was knocked out by the photos, which cover stupas all the way from Taxila, Pakistan, to Tokyo, Japan. The stupa photography is particularly strong in the chapters on India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Tibet. An entire chapter is devoted to Borobudur and satellite stupas in central Java.

Dipping into the text at home, I was pleasantly surprised by how authoritative and complete the coverage of this complex topic was. Not only does the author do an excellent job of explaining the symbolism of stupas in various Buddhist cultures, he also links it to the history of Buddhism throughout Asia, no small task. Although I'm a longtime amateur student of Buddhism and Asian art history myself, I found much new material to ponder.

I was most impressed by the way Mr Cummings has carried out original research as well as reporting on the research of other scholars who came before him. This is something I didn't expect from a hardcover pictorial such as this. Kudos to Lonely Planet for publishing a seriously good book.