Rating
This is actually one of the easiest Compass school books to use --- no astrology, no numerology, no lucky numbers or directions, no confusing charts. Amazing! Eight compass points and the center are dealt with in detail.
The book has a few oddities that are worth mentioning. When discussing how to bring back a missing area using mirrors, he says, "To compensate for the 'missing' section of the room, a mirror can be hung on the opposite wall. Everybody else is going around saying to put the mirror on the same wall as the missing area. What gives?
On page 42 he says, "If a room has a small window then a large mirror should be hung alongside it so that as much light as possible is reflected into the room." Since when does a mirror reflect something that is beside it?!
On page 70, when discussing indoor plants he says, "...you must be careful to turn the plant 180 degrees each day so its growth remains as balanced as possible." I'm a gardener, and I declare that to be just plain nutty. First of all, nobody's gonna do it, and second, turning a plant 90 degrees once a week is all that is needed for balanced growth.
On page 79, he discusses open-plan kitchens (a kitchen with more than one purpose, such as a dining area.) He has three drawings illustrating both the problem and the solutions. There is a compass overlay shown over each drawing. His text indicates that the compass overlay changes when the corrections are made, but the compass overlay in the drawing does not change, even when the "corrections" are illustrated.
On page 84, he is commenting on a photograph. He says, "...the oven is set in a corner." Well, there's a rangetop in the corner, but the double oven is very obviously against a side wall. On page 105, he is once again commenting on a picture, "The dark rug does nothing to contrast with the relatively dark furniture and décor." Well, how would we know, since no rug is visible in the photograph. An editor should have caught these mistakes.
On page 93 he says "Microwaves, blenders, electric kettles and the like all have beneficial effects on the Ch'i surrounding them, so it is possible to stimulate all eight zones of the kitchen through electricity alone if you spread your appliances around." Most feng shui authors would say this is like opening a vitamin bottle and eating all the pills at once --- not a good idea!
W. Foulsham & Company, Bershire, England, 1998, 0-572-02395-2, 208 pages, drawings and color photos, paperback, $14.95.