Being Blissful

Feng Shui for Dummies is usually the first book that most people find in their library or on Amazon. It is a very thorough and straightforward book, hence the title, Feng Shui for dummies. There is however, some lack of depth as particular Feng Shui principles are brushed over quickly, and at other times, tangential topics are brought up.

Feng Shui For Dummies is a book in the Dummies series of helpful guides for the essential things in life. The book is written by David Kennedy, and at the outset appears to be extremely well researched and well informed. In fact, if you hadn’t found this website, I would recommend going to Kennedy’s book as a first-stop on your Feng Shui journey. Let’s see what Feng Shui for Dummies is made of…

Feng Shui for Dummies makes a number of ‘typical’ and interesting claims on its blurb, namely: to help bring harmony and happiness into your relationships, to increase your prosperity, to eliminate chronic patterns of failure, difficulty or stress, to energize your environment and home, and to better your health. Well, Feng Shui when applied properly certainly delivers on those things, but does Feng Shui for Dummies? We’ll see in a minute.

Let’s look first at the topics covered in Feng Shui for Dummies: the history of Feng Shui, the elements of Feng Shui, Feng Shui in the bedroom, meditation (?), the home and Feng Shui, Feng Shui and your career, Feng Shui ceremonies (?). All these topics are covered to varying degrees in Feng Shui for Dummies – most of the essential elements are there, but some such as the treatment of elements (no pun intended) are just not as complete as they could be. I personally didn’t see the overall relevance of meditation and ceremonies, except that they have been carried through in tradition and to some extent are part of Feng Shui lore and practice. From a practicality standpoint, some readers may feel comfortable and better using them and some will not. Feng Shui for Dummies does give you the choice though.

You can find multiple versions of Feng Shui for Dummies on Amazon.

So just how good is Feng Shui for Dummies? If you’re looking for a practical, common-sense and down-to-earth guide to Feng Shui, it’s a great start. It’s a very general and well-researched book on Feng Shui. I do have some criticisms however. The first is the fairly light treatments of the five Feng Shui elements (which I guess can be considered more in the ‘lore’ than ‘practicality’ part of Feng Shui). The second is the recommendation of crystals and bamboo as ‘miracle cures’ to be used everywhere. Remember that part of Feng Shui (even Feng Shui for dummies) is creating a comfortable and pleasant environment – hanging crystals, baguas and planting bamboo everywhere won’t necessarily create that effect. The third is that the book focuses primarily on Black Sect Feng Shui, which is the Western adaptation of Feng Shui practices, and therefore more reliant on ‘gut feel’ rather than tradition. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a different approach to what most Feng Shui practitioners will tell you. Feng Shui for Dummies certainly delivers what it claims.

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