Thanks for the review Phillip! I don't know about calling the poster a moron, but it was a rather strange review and prompted me to write one myself on the Amazon page which I was never planning on doing.
So, I finished folding all of the models and I'll make a few additions:
On the topic of complexity, Lang's Yellow Jacket is likely the least accessible design if you're not quite up to the challenge because some of the molecules are quite unusual and it's still confusing even with all of the valley and mountain folds pointed out for you. Step 27 could easily be spread out into 10 precreasing steps which would help folders at every level. Besides that, the model isn't THAT difficult as long as you have strong tear-resistant paper and don't mind adding an adhesive to keep all the layers in the prothorax together.
As for my two additions, they're both among the most complex models in the book with plenty of tricky folds which are all to easy to fold sloppily. The Hercules beetle is circle-packed with tons of pleat-sinks (This Model was definitely Lang inspired) which can be difficult to preform and the Titan Beetle is precrease heavy with tiny folds in the tarsi (feet) and more nasty than you would expect folds for the eyes. In terms of simply time required to fold, the Titan beetle and Yellow Jacket are more or less equal. Originally I was just going to diagram my old root borer for the book (that's actually the model the publishers requested), but I thought that might have been a let down for potential buyers, so I went about and updated the look which resulted in an entirely new design.
Jason Ku's two additions are very charming and perhaps more enjoyable to fold than the models listed so far with ingenious folding techniques (very reminiscent of Satoshi Kamiya) and generally more step-by-step folding sequences. The Rhinoceros Beetle has what seems at first like a somewhat basic base and yet through the diagrams transforms into a very elegant model. The Luna Moth is the most lengthy model in the book in terms of step count, but each step goes by with relative ease and and the finished product has to be one of my favorite insects ever diagrammed.
Daniel Robinson's Leaf insect addition is a very pure model with a straight forward folding sequence resulting in a very pleasing result. It's very similar to Robert Lang's early insects and even has tiny mandibles which are invisible unless viewed from below.
I can completely understand why some would be disappointed in Kirschenbaums contributions, I know I was asked to only submit previously unpublished diagrams and it must have been the same for everyone. Now, luckily I never owned his original bugs book, so the folding sequences were brand new to me. His Ladybug has very ingenious color-changes and the finished model is relatively simple with an extremely pleasing result. His Mosquito is also color-changed with a straight forward base which gets surprisingly thick in the body and middle legs, use the thinnest paper you can find and the result is very nice.
Sebastian Arellano is one of the 'fresh new talents' (like myself I hope) mentioned in the book description. The Bed bug starts out with a traditional base and is a high-intermediate cute little bugger, one of only 3 models with less than 50 steps. His Mantis has a very nice and clean base and finished model looks great with the mandible and eye details.
Won Park submitted his $bill flapping butterfly and $dragonfly, both models are pleasing to the eye by the master of dollar bill origami though much simpler than the rest of the books contents. Both designs have similar bases and he mentions that the dragonfly is one of his oldest models designed while he was in high school and the butterfly is one of his newest (2012 is the date on his DA account).
Even if none of my models were diagrammed in this book I would recommend it. I loved folding each one of them and this volume acts as a huge motivator to continue my own journey throughout origami. If you're an advanced origami artist then you should definitely buy this book, well, as long as you don't mind an overload of bugs!
