The author presents Taoism in it's historic entirety, spanning from it's origins to the present. He presents the various forms of Taoism, their founders and histories, as well as some of their practices. For a short book, it packs a lot of information. However, this does seem like an abbreviated version of Eva Wong's Shambala Guide to Taoism.

This book is a valuable historical reference for Taoism. The sheer amount of historical research that went into it makes this book worth ten times it's weight in gold.

You are presented with historical figures of Taoism, and their influence on the system as a shamanic practice, a philosophy, and a religion. The information is greatly detailed, and further sources of reference are provided by the author.

If you are interested in researching Taoism, it's rich, vast history, it’s various forms and traditions, you will find this text a great resource.

Since there are multiple ways to translate the text, the reader should familiarize him/her self with more than one translation. Due to the poetic dialect used in the text and the use of various plays on words, a particular line can have multiple meanings. In addition, some translators tend to edit out/modify what they feel are mistakes on the part of the original. For this reason, no one single translation is a complete work.

Furthermore, this text should be viewed within the context of Taoism's shamanic origins and traditions. To refrain from doing so, would remove the message from it's original context. Then again, the text has been re-interpreted many times by various elements of Chinese society, so an originally intended defenition may be somewhat moot in our time. The great thing about the text, is that it can be (and has been) re-interpreted in any historic period, and still retain it's unique message.

The text is a series of verses offering advice on how to lead a virtuous life in the context of the Tao, advice to a ruler on benevolence, and a guide to becoming a sage. Since the meanings are multiple, it can also be interpreted in the context of martial arts (Taiji Quan,) and various other pursuits. All in all, a valuable text for anyone looking to expand their spiritual views. A must for any scholar of Taoism.