I appreciate Peter's sacrifice by reading this book and I would agree that
the paragraph quoted below doesn't seem to have anything to do with even my
limited understanding of Zen.

Also, the lack of attention to the details of spelling, etc., are
regrettable.

However, I do think that if Bonsai is going to be more popular especially
among a younger, more urban population it will need to change and reflect popular
culture such as "The Lord of The Rings."

Billy on the Florida Space Coast
BSF Annual Convention May 28 - 31, 2004 Radisson Hotel, Cape Canaveral,
Florida
Sponsored by The Bonsai Society of Brevard and the Treasure Coast Bonsai
Society
http://www.bonsaisocietyofbrevard.org/2004/2004.html

In a message dated 1/16/2004 10:08:34 PM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:

Reading this book was sheer agony as I knew that several people were
expecting a review on the IBC forum. I have agonized over whether to follow
through with my original plan to write an article worthy of the New York
Review of Books or have compassion on the author and fellow IBC members, and
be quick and to the point. I have decided to have mercy and selected the
second option.

In closing I am taking the liberty of quoting a paragraph, a good practice
for reviewers: "In contrast to the normal bonsai convention of cultivating
soilhugging surface roots, Hobbit style tree roots are deliberately exposed
to create hollows, as in the film The Lord of the Rings where the hobbits
took refuge in the roots of the trees. ......The cavern-like holes that form
beneath the trunks have a mysterious look. Unusually, this intriguing Zen
aspect focuses on one of the least dominant features of a bonsai."


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