Aunque la historia de los laberintos se remonta a hace al menos cuatro mil años, nunca se habían construido tantos como ahora. ¿Qué es lo que hace que estos enormes y mágicos rompecabezas nos sigan intrigando en la actualidad?
Las particulares ilustraciones de esta obra, que representan sesenta laberintos reales e imaginarios de todo el mundo, hacen este libro resulte indispensable para los entusiastas del tema. Acompañada de una reseña histórica, cada imagen ofrece una perspectiva a vista de pájaro y permite que los lectores viajen por los distintos recorridos. Laberintos no es solo una guía informativa con excelentes ilustraciones, sino también un libro sobre enigmas.
This is a really good book about mazes, extant and vanished. Beautifully designed, with two or three pages on each maze; a scale drawing (impossible to resist running your finger through to see if you can solve it), only one or two of which I had trouble deciphering, and a precis of the historical background and the philosophical or religious or personal reasons why it was built.
It's just enough information, and without laboring to instruct, nonetheless leaves you a little the wiser. For instance, the difference between a maze and a labyrinth? May not be what you think. After all, the labyrinth everyone thinks of is the Minotaur's. However, it turns out, that was actually a maze. You can't get lost in a labyrinth; it leads you to the center and then right back out. A maze is the one you get lost in.
I really like this book. Makes me want to build a labyrinth of my own. There's one at Winterthur, a very simple one, just a series of stones, inscribed with images of herbs and words from a Navajo Beauty way prayer. I've walked it and small as it is, it's meditative. I've also watched children flying around it. laughing as they swoop near each other on different paths but never quite meet.
I had no idea how rooted in history that deceptively complex shape is.
I learned a lot in a beautifully designed book. It is well illustrated and the very bright green and black design is a very good way to focus your attention on the content. Sometimes each maze/labyrinth location is full of anecdotes that could be shorter or more related to the main topic.