Here is a true rarity: a Tai Chi book that does not have a section devoted to reproducing pictures or drawings of one of the forms. T.T. Liang, like other authors of Chinese origin on this subject, suffered from grave illness and was cured by practicing Tai Chi. This book, edited by one of his students, is a very, very different approach to writing about Tai Chi.

What is interesting about it is the blend of materials presented. This little, unassuming book contains a VERY GOOD translation of the Tai Chi Classics, with a very personal and insightful commentary from Master Liang, along with excerpts from many other Tai Chi songs and tales from China. The chapters are loosely knit, and sometimes while reading the book one gets the feeling that it is just a collection of loose essays on Tai Chi by either a long-time practitioner or a fascinated observer. The style is very personal, and Master Liang intertwines his own ruminations and analyses of the teachings from the ancients in the same text. There are a lot of insights hidden in it, but a casual reader will have trouble finding them. This author wanders off, and doesn't always remember the reader trailing behind him, so one is often left thinking, "did I miss something?"

In all, the book is not bad (it's readable, the translation of the classics is very good, and you can see that the author knows his subject), but it is not excellent either. I'd say it's an average book with highlights that would interest an intermediate to advanced student of Tai Chi.

This book is mis-leading. In describing Tai Chi movements the pictures disagree with the written text..."foot directly below the shoulder" and it isn't in the photograph. There are more such discrepancies. The analogies may be common to the writer but confusing to this reader..."sand pouring down your leg". There is a large and growing number of Tai Chi manuals. It's too bad publications like this sound so good and read so poorly.

This video is excellent for beginners in that the instructor is very clear about the movements and also uses two "students"from a rear view,in order to better ,still,understand the postures.
The only disappointment is that after the steps are individually learned,they are not shown together in a "dance"(for lack of a better word)that one can do along WITH the instructor,nor is the meaning of each movement given,which is a very important part of the Tai Chi.

This book is excellent for the beginner. The descriptions are very clear, and the photographs are easy to see. I had no problem understanding exactly what Ms. Hooton was talking about.

The AI techniques presented were overly simplistic, and the examples were somewhere near useless(especially when they were supposed to be geared towards agent intelligence). The VR section seemed to be missing. There was a simplistic 3D app in OpenGL, but no discussion on agents using upper(or lower for that matter) level AI to interact in a VR environ. Save your money.

The author wastes about half of the book with code dumps and oversized diagrams. He barely attempts to explain the theory, which is crammed into one chapter. The examples are useless and get little explanation.

This book takes about 2 hours to breeze through. The author spends about as much time on how to write OOP code as he does the AI concepts. If I wanted lessons in OOP, I'd buy a book about OOP. This book was supposed to be about AI! Also, he spends very little time explaining the theory of ai. Statements like "It does not make sense to use crossover operations to evolve the population for recurrent neural networks" are never qualified with an explanation. The reader never gets a sense of why he should be doing what the author describes. Rather than explain anything, the author just sites his other publications. Very poor. This is the real kicker: practically half of the book is dedicated to code dumps or space wasting Booch diagrams. The code dumps aren't even accompanied by anything meaningful, just things like, the constructor initializes the data. If I wanted to see the code in print, I'll use my own printer, thank you.

I think who ever wrote this book needs to wake up to reality, cause it is the worst book that has ever been writen.

If you are interested in therapy movement systems as a patient or professional, consider learning about varied forms of active qigong such as Wild Goose... or for the unusual, possible Hua Tuo's Five Animal Frolics (as originally intended or contemporarily interpreted). Most correctly practice full Qigong sysems will address the same concerns raised for therapy and health herein, and do so more effectively, thoroughly, and with easier comprehesion by the beginner than this "form" and system created by the author which is being labeled as Tai Chi. It is not Tai Chi Chuan... or even Tai Chi.

As a continuing student of TCC, I'm always interested in medical viewpoints concerning TCC, and I enjoy surveying perspectives on Tai Chi from the martial to the health-oriented, looking for new approachs that can address whatever motivation a person may have for learning TCC. However, this package did not fall anywhere in that range because I do not consider what I read or viewed here to be TCC in any manner. I see little here of use that could not be found elsewhere in a movement system designed for the needs addressed without attempting yet another new age Western rewrite of a martial art. Heed my warning and avoid wasting your money as I did.