Marc Treib is Professor of Architecture Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, a practicing graphic designer, and a noted historian and critic of landscape and architecture. He has published widely on modern and historical subjects in the United States, Japan, and Scandinavia. Rob Herman is a landscape architect specialising in residential and estate gardens, with his office in San Leandro, California. After receiving his degree in landscape architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, he studied the history of Japanese gardens at Kyoto University.

"In the nearly 40 years since the original publication of this guide, the reputation of Kyoto as a destination for landscape design has only grown, yet this book remains the standard introduction. Long out of print, this book, by a landscape historian and a landscape architect, now has updated text, which is composed of essays garden entries, and maps, and its illustrations are in full color for the first time. Small enough to be carried easily on foot, A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto punches above its weight as a text for professional and general readers." --Landscape Architecture Magazine