Post #198835 by bigbrotiki on Fri, Nov 18, 2005 1:38 PM

I just got home and found my 3 complimentary copies that I had been promised for lending them some pictures from the BOT, which was generously acknowledged as a "biblical work" in it, mahalo!

This little tome will be a nice source for the Tiki tourist to Hawaii. In the first part, "TIKI OF OLD", it gives the novice a compiled history of Hawaiian religion and the role of the Tiki, with a description of the different deities, and also, which is very useful, a guide to the most important temple sites on the various islands.

The second part, "TIKI OF AMERICA", does not really have much new info for us old Tikiphiles. It has one great photo of carver Anthony Pratt showing off an amazing reproduction of the 9 ft Kauai "connected mouth" temple image that I always favored and have not seen being carved in modern times before.

I do not know if the author selected the images illustrating the 2nd part, or the art director used the publisher's archive on his own, but I wish they would have consulted a Tikiphile before they chose the Tikis and carvings. Unfortunately, for a book on Tiki, it is liberally sprinkled with the same cheap, currently available K.C. and ABC store Tikis and Tiki mugs that were already such an eyesore in the Don The Beachcomber book by the same publisher.
In another post here we have already discussed the lack of originality in the "International Marketplace" tourist Tikis. Conferring on Tiki style with a local Tikiphile like Gecko would have avoided these and other poor choices (like the naive Kohala coast trail Tikis or the only Tiki's Bar and Grill Tiki not carved by Leroy). There are however a couple of nice shots of La Mariana's, which is good because the better business they make the longer they will survive.

All in all, this Book is a useful source if you need a concise primer in Hawaiian mythology and temples, and a good intro for the novice to Polynesian Pop, but in terms of Tiki taste it could have been better educated.