I own several books on Zentangle. This is the first one I got and the one that got me into it, and it is the best of the lot, but there is certainly room for improvement.
First the pros:
I like that it is organized as a series of daily lessons that build upon each other. This si the book's greatest strength. This encourages you to make Zentangle a daily practice, or at least a frequent/regular one. I did more than one lesson per day early on and later had to skip days or take longer to do some of them, partly due to my schedule, and partly because the projects became more time-consuming (and costly) later in the book. This also encourages you to try things--media and patterns and techniques that you might not otherwise try. The other books are not structured this way, but are more like random collections of stuff with a bunch of tangle step-outs (visual instructions for how to draw the patterns) appended. That said, there is generally something worthwhile in the random collections of stuff, but what is lacking is structure. This book takes the newbie or experienced tangler through various principles and techniques of art while introducing new tangles at a pace that makes it easy to integrate them into your practice. It also has you keeping a sketchbook as a place for practicing new patterns and techniques and working out ones of your own, another valuable art practice.

The cons: As I mentioned earlier, the materials used in the projects get more costly as the book progresses. If you are buying everything recommended, it could get a bit pricey. That said, you will then have a nice collection of materials with which to continue your practice. I wish that the author had given some time to sustainable art materials. Some of the things she recommends, such as Gelatos and all those disposable markers and pens, are just grossly over packaged and lead to more plastic waste. There are various refillable technical (i.e. Rapidosketch, etc.) and fountain pens that use bottled inks and which are more affordable and less wasteful in the long run. And, as others have mentioned, the book would be better with better editing.

Overall, this is the best introduction to Zentangle that I have seen and would give someone new to this practice a firm foundation in the discipline, and would fill in gaps and expand the horizons of someone who started tangling with a more random approach.

To those critics who say that Zentangle is some evil, corporate patented form of doodling designed to profit those who founded it, I have this to say: that is nonsense--you can practice this art form without ever buying any Zentangle-branded merchandise--all you need are technical pens of the appropriate nib sizes, permanent black ink for them (and other colors as you see fit), ordinary graphite art pencils of any brand you want, a couple of stumps available at any art store, and quality paper. The branded Zentangle tiles are made from Fabriano Tiepolo paper, which is available at any real art store in big sheets that you can cut down to 3.5" squares for a lot less money, but most any quality printmaking paper (such as Stonehenge) or 90-140 pound watercolor paper cut to size will do. You can use a library card to borrow a book for free, or just visit any of the numerous websites now available (Tangle Patterns, for example), thus starving the alleged corporate beast.

Or you could just keep complaining rather than trying out what may prove to be an accessible and enjoyable entry (or re-entry) point into the visual arts.

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.6 (2487 ratings)
Price	$13.31
Category	Art Therapy & Relaxation

One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun (One A Day)