The Trail of Time : Time Measurement with Incense in East Asia (Needham Research Institute Studies)

Rating:
Summary: The Very Best Book on Incense
Review: Don't let the title fool you, besides information on Incense Clocks this book is the best researched and written book on incense in the English language. Over twenty-five years of research went into the endeavor, which will remain the English standard on incense for sometime to come.

Silvio Bedini writes an academic quality book, complete with footnotes, sources, and extensive bibliography. A work one would expect from the Historian Emeritus of the Smitshonian Institute.

This book has been a primary resource for many of us researching and writing about incense. It's a first addition and well worth the investment!

Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading For Serious Incense Users
Review: This fine book is a true treasure. It is a work of in-depth research over many years and reveals information available nowhere else in English. Although it is an academic work of history, I found it to be an exciting and insightful book for my own incense creation and burning. For anyone researching incense use or history, this book is absolutely mandatory reading.

It's a real shame that some people who cite this book as a reference have never actually read it. I've heard American "experts" on incense claim that Scott Cunningham came up with the idea of adding salt peter to incense, when Dr. Bedini clearly lists several recipes in this book that are from ancient China and are thousands of years old. There are many other wonderful tidbits like that in this book.

Dr. Bedini has honored us all with this detailed look at a virtually unknown aspect of incense that was once very important to multiple Asian cultures. He has taken this subject out of the hands of a small group of collectors and brought it back for us all to enjoy. Until exposed to this book, I honestly had no clue about this very important incense topic.

This book has my absolute endorsement. Buy a copy and treasure it. It's far better to read this gem than to listen to self-proclaimed incense "experts" who are nothing but incense importers trying to line their pockets in any way they can. Dr. Bedini is legitimate, unlike those "experts".