Meditative Spaces

by Michael Freeman

The need to reflect, contemplate, and concentrate is an essential counterpoint to the rush of daily life and its surface details. This has been recognized since ancient times, and meditation in one form or another has been practiced through the centuries and across cultures, for reasons both sacred and mundane. In the modern world the motivations are more likely to be personal than religious, but the same dynamics apply in calming and focusing the mind. A prerequisite is the right physical space-somewhere to help set one's frame of mind and to hold back the distractions of the outside. Specifically for the purpose of meditation, the examples are from sources as varied and fascinating as contemporary Japanese tea-ceremony rooms, minimalist Western architecture, idiosyncratic chapels, artists' and writers' workspaces, and portable tented structures. The principles are all applicable to modern living, whether permanent or temporary, at home or in beautiful natural settings.With its crisp photography and inventive design, Meditative Spaces will appeal to a variety of readers, from architecture enthusiasts to those with an interest in Japanese style to anyone looking to find-and celebrate-serenity in today's hectic and rapidly paced world.

Genres: Art

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2005

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.

Michael Freeman is a professional photographer and author. He wrote more than 100 book titles. He was born in England in 1945, took a Masters in geography at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and then worked in advertising in London for six years. He made the break from there in 1971 to travel up the Amazon with two secondhand cameras, and when Time-Life used many of the pictures extensively in the Amazon volume of their World's Wild Places series, including the cover, they encouraged him to begin a full-time photographic career.

Since then, working for editorial clients that include all the world's major magazines, and notably the Smithsonian Magazine (with which he has had a 30-year association, shooting more than 40 stories), Freeman's reputation has resulted in more than 100 books published. Of these, he is author as well as photographer, and they include more than 40 books on the practice of photography - for this photographic educational work he was awarded the Prix Louis Philippe Clerc by the French Ministry of Culture. He is also responsible for the distance-learning courses on photography at the UK's Open College of the Arts.

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong]

I did not find this book interesting as it was more about staring at blank walls in order to achieve a Zen state of mind.

[Shari]

For a few years this has been out on our reading table. It is one of the most often picked up books in our living room among our friends. I repeatedly look through it myself.

What I find myself thinking about are the contrasts between cozy filled organically asymmetric spaces, and limited palette expansive geometric spaces. The text of the book does not illuminate this distinction, but it presents the images which support the contrasting approaches. It is an arena for thought.

[Loricious]

I'm contemplating making a little one in the basement or the backyard. Just something small. These spaces seem genius to this untrained eye.

It is small, gives good ideas.

[James]

This is a nice contemplation on space and space design to promote different types of meditative spaces. The imagery is well done although a few could have used a "reshoot". The supporting text is excellent. Overall a nice contemplation.

[Jessica]

I picked this book up on a whim at our local used bookstore several years ago. I quite like it as an escape book when things feel too cluttered or busy at home. The range of spaces from temporary shelters meant to be intensely personal to public use spaces is quite nice.

While it doesn't go much further than coffee table inspiration it does pique my curiosity about planning a home meditation space without treading into HGTV or home decorating territory, which is refreshing.