Thinking that it was a "how-to" book, I ordered this book based on my artist friend's recommendation. Instead, it turned out to be more of a photo-gallery type reference book. As I was going through the book, the wonderful memories of inspirational and mind-expanding visit to the Portland Museum of Contemporary Crafts (Oregon), Museum of Art & Design (New York), American Craft Council Fair (alternate crafts section) at Fort Mason (San Francisco, CA) came to my mind.
In every visit, I was fascinated and amazed with how ordinary or found materials can be repurposed, recycled, or even re-manufactured into an entirely different entity. I saw several of them again in this book, and from the same book, many more examples of material reuse from many different categories were shown: fashion, home accessories, book arts, mixed media, and interiors.
Each photo (1,000 of them) has a number and the name of the artisan. If one wants to know what materials were used, one will have to find it in the image directory at the end of the book using the number as the index. However, the image directory is a bit confusing and difficult to read because it was not in the expected columnar format.
Despite the shortcomings of the book's layout design and the misleading title, I have found it to be inspirational as it enables me to come up with more ideas for what I can use with my own found materials. And if I need more information, I can look up a list of resources in this book.
Overall, I find this book to be a good sourcing tool for scouts who are looking for exceptional or "green" items to be sold in crafts fairs, galleries or other retail venues. It is also an excellent idea-generating tool for those who want to create, design or maintain a "green" lifestyle by either recycling with found materials or buying the handcrafted objects from the artisans.