This book is built on the assumption that you begin bonsai with a shop-bought specimen, and the instructional aspect of the book is completely focused on routine care and maintenance of such a tree. Similarly the tree-directory, which forms the bulk of the book, focuses almost solely on the species that are commonly used to make bonsai for sale. Within these limits, the book covers the basic procedures thoroughly, with excellent illustrations and very clear text, and with detailed instructions for each species covered. There is an above-average level of explanation, with a very good chapter on how a tree works, and relating maintenance procedures to explanations of how growth occurs and how the tree responds to pruning, etc.
But for someone who is interested in creating their own bonsai, either from their own seedling or from a container plant from a garden centre, or from a wild-growing tree, there is no help at all. Similarly, for anyone who has or wishes to create a bonsai from a European species, there is no direct help, only the possibility of adapting, for example, what is said about chinese junipers to european junipers. The lack of anything on how to create bonsai from collected trees is particularly striking given that some of the book's most impressive illustrations are of just such bonsai.