Rating
Ancient China has truly met the new age in this book. There are colored candles, crystals, and gemstones galore. Bartlett bases the bagua on the entrance, but also refers to the compass directions when explaining the use of the Magic Square. It's extremely rare to see an entrance-based bagua and a compass-based Magic Square in the same book - but this is no ordinary feng shui book.
She is very thorough in explaining characteristics of the personalities of the different elements (Metal man, Fire woman, etcetera.) She also carefully explains how the element personalities get along in relationships (Metal/Water, Fire/Wood, etcetera.) For the Wood/Wood couple she recommends a bed facing a window, something which most feng shui teachers warn against.
The only drawing that seemed confusing is figure 10 on page 29, where she says that some of section eight is missing - but it doesn't look missing. There's a door there, but in none of her other drawings does she indicate that a door means a missing area. Truly puzzling…
Kodansha International, New York, 1999, 1-56836-271-4, 256 pages, black-and-white drawings, paperback, $14.00