{"product_id":"asian-gardens-tom-turner-9780415496872","title":"Asian Gardens: History, Beliefs and Design","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe gardens made on the fringes of Central Asia in the past 5000 years form a great arc. From the Fertile Crescent, it runs west to Europe and east to China and Japan. Asia's fringe was a zone of interchange: a vast landscape in which herders encountered farmers and the design of symbolic gardens began. It appears that as they became settlers, nomads retained a love of mobility, hunting and the wild places in which their ancestors had roamed. Central Asian and Indian ideas influenced the garden culture of China, Japan and South East Asia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn West Asia, Aryan settlers made hunting parks known as paradises. They were walled enclosures stocked with exotic plants and animals. In East Asia, great landscape parks were used for similar purposes and had a sacred role. Across Asia, gardens were influenced by religious and other beliefs: polytheist, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Daoist, Shinto and Modernist. Early parks and gardens symbolized wild and civilized nature, sometimes conceived as the realms of the Sky God and the Earth Mother. \u003cem\u003eAsian Gardens: History, Beliefs and Design\u003c\/em\u003e explores the ways in which designs were guided by beliefs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTom Turner has been researching and teaching the theory and history of garden design for some forty years. His visits, research, drawings and photographs are brought together in detailed studies of West Asia, South Asia and East Asia. The period covered extends from the earliest gardens to the present. Using maps, diagrams and photographs, the author explores how and why Asian gardens developed their characteristic forms and functions. Treating garden design as a 'word and image' subject, the account is coherent, comparative and readable. Further details of all the gardens are available on the gardenvisit.com website, which the author edits.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Tom Turner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 041549687X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780415496872\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Routledge\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/11\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 340\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 3.48lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.80h x 10.00w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2011","brand":"Tom Turner","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48447740543231,"sku":"9780415496872","price":190.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_68c675d5-5a0f-4f59-be6b-4d518eba8dbb.jpg?v=1777234490","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/asian-gardens-tom-turner-9780415496872","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}