The Complete Illustrated Guide to Tai Chi: A Practical Approach to the Ancient Chinese Movement for Health and Well Being (Complete Illustrated Guide S.)

Rating:
Summary: A few comments
Review: This is a well written and beautifully illustrated book on tai chi. The paper is the nice, glossy type so the photos and illustrations really stand out. But there is a lot of good information here too. There are the usual discussions of tai chi's health and spiritual aspects, but for me the best part of the book was the presentation of the Hou style short form, which I hadn't seen before, and the comparisons at the end of the volume where the author contrasts the different styles, such as Wu, Yang, Sun, Chen, Hou, and so on. Although brief, this gave me a better understanding of the origins, similarities and differences of the major styles. Much of the first part of the book is taken up with discussions of physiology, which, as a physiologist myself, I could have done without, but for the general reader there's some useful information here. One interesting feature is there are about a dozen interviews with different people who have been practicing tai chi for months to many years about how tai chi has helped or influenced them. Overall, a good book for a beginning to intermediate student.