Why as Opposed to How
This book is not meant to "teach" Tai Chi Chuan, but meant to expound upon its meaning to the earnest practitioner; to offer the layperson a glimpse into this ancient art; and to communicate the author's unique perceptions and experiences that only a lifetime of practice can cultivate.

Taken in this context, this is a most valuable book.

A Remote work.
I know I might be offending a sacred cow here but I actually find this work to be the most useless and inaccessable of all the books I have on Taijiquan. It may well be a classic but I found it crude, obvious, rather rudimentary, hard to use in any practicle way and it only serves as a mild curiosity in terms of it's intrinsic value

The pictures don't do nearly enough to guide a person learning the form and I already know the form! The written text is by far the most interesting thing about this book and the philosophy of CMC is as always a pleasure to read. This work does in no real way reflect my views of the man himself but rather I feel it was a poorly planned work which requires far more detail in order to bring alive as a living work to students the complexity and subtleties of Taijiquan.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone in good conscience unless they are a CMC fanatic and have to have everything by him. The pictures could go as pin ups on a locker or something but apart from that I'm sorry to say CMC needed to have his thinking cap on well before this book went to press.

This is the original classic on the most popular Tai Chi
This is the original classic about the Short Form the most popular and widespread form of Tai Chi in the West, it is a must read for every serious Tai Chi student.