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Return to list Review by Clear Englebert
April Simmons - Feng Shui (Life Basics series)
Rating

This is a terrific little book, but I guess the publisher (European) didn't feel that the authors in this series rated having their names printed anywhere on the book. I had to look on the internet to find out who the author is. There are no personal stories which makes me wonder if the author is a consultant or a writer. Consultants usually have stories. But the publisher may have said, "No stories." Anyway, what you end up with is quite power-packed because every sentence is information. Unfortunately there's no index, and it is desperately needed---much information and precious little way to find it again once you've read it.

There are three drawings on page 122 which don't jive well with the text and add unnecessary confusion. Also she says sleeping on the floor is most desirable (because you'll receive more chi), and that's certainly not a matter of universal agreement. I like that she says not to cut down big living trees because they are guardians. On page 161 she refers to Figure 37 when what she really means is Figure 62---a typo. On the next page she shows a bedroom arrangement that she says is "works perfectly well." The bed is in a disempowered position with its back to the door, so I wouldn't call that okay at all. Frequently her illustrations show a door opening toward a wall rather than toward the openness of the room, and she makes no comment about that. There's definitely some room for improvement, but over all it's darn good.

Occasionally she tells a problem and doesn't tell a solution, but usually she's very good about giving solutions. In fact the solutions for a tree or pole in front of the front door are ones I've never heard of, and I would love to mention them in this review if only I could find them again. They have to do with balancing the obstructing object with another object either behind the house or beside the front door. I sure wish this nice book had an index!

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