What spurred me into finally taking up origami wasn’t just having time on my hands and a few extra bucks. It was this book, Teach Yourself Origami, sitting in the bargain bin at Borders. Something about the half price tag that really caught my eye, and oh yeah, the animals on the front.

Buying a good book is only useful if you open it. Since it’s a book on origami, just opening the book wasn’t going to be enough, something else was needed, paper. Origami paper to be precise.

Borders didn’t seem to have any, and neither did Walmart. You can buy just about anything there, but apparently not origami goodies. Then something reminded me how Barnes & Noble always has craft stuff up front, so I headed over. Sure enough, they had paper.

If you’ve never done any origami, you might think choosing paper would be a no-brainer. Heck, why not just grab your newspaper and get going. You could, but for a beginner, the square paper is the best.

Paper in hand, it was time to crack open Teach Yourself Origami. I’m only part way through the folding diagrams but I love it already. There’s an in depth review here, but let me cover a few highlights.

• Easy to read diagrams.
• Introduces new folds along side new diagrams.
• Diagrams have good but simple explanations.
• There’s no fluff. It’s all about the origami.

Here’s a photo to give you an idea:

Origami Frog folded from Teach Yourself Origami

As a first origami book, this is a winner. As an added bonus there’s a bit of history. I’d like to note also that this book focuses on single paper folding, without the use of scissors or tearing. That’s more orthodox than some folders enjoy.

Pick up Teach Yourself Origami at Amazon.