An informative and fascinating book written by a an author recognised in the East and West as an authority in both a practical and scholarly sense. This volume can be read in sequence from cover to cover, by individual topic, or be dipped into at random - all to the reader's satisfaction. It's definitely not a 'how to' or 'coffee table' book, rather it's a comparative compendium of well written information about the history, concepts, principles and theories of the three main Chinese 'internal' martial arts: pleasingly punctuated by stories about great masters and the author's own experiences and anecdotes (includes accounts of his martial arts training and experiences in Japan as well as China).