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Books like these are why they say "Don't judge a book by its cover" or perhaps "by its title" would be more accurate. The precepts of Dokkodo, Musashi's actual words, serve as little more than chapter titles in this book. It would have been nice to see a book in this format that actually consulted some experts on, for example, Japanese literature or history, who could actually give some valuable context to Musashi's advice. Instead, a panel of five westerners from varying walks of life, but who don't seem particularly versed in or connected to Musashi's work, and approach each sentence as if they had just cracked open a fortune cookie. Not to knock the contributors here, they do each sound like impressive and accomplished people, but I don't think their advice and opinions (particularly when they deviate from Musashi's own) are what people are looking for when they buy a book called "Musashi's Dokkodo" that purports to be authored by Musashi himself. Often they will begin by disagreeing with the precept itself. Other times they will edit it themselves, as if they somehow had a better idea of what Musashi meant to say than whoever did the translating, or perhaps even Musashi himself. And frequently, they simply meander far off topic. For example, when faced with the precept of "Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling" one of the five contributors advises not to depend on a 'complete' feeling either, while another seems to think that "knowledge is power" is a close enough analog and gives their thoughts on that axiom instead. This could be a fine book on its own, if its title were a bit more accurate and what was inside matched what it said on the tin. Instead, it uses the legendary name of Musashi to cash in. That's a real shame.