What sets this book apart is the depth of study that Ted brings to the subject. This is a man whose library on hypnosis rivals the British Library in number of books! And he read them all! And this is very important: after all, many NLP specialists study only the work of Erickson. As you will learn in this book, Tad studied the development of hypnosis from its beginnings in Egypt and India thousands of years ago, through the work of Mesmer, Bernheim and Braid, to such masters of the twentieth centuries, like Erickson, Estabrooks, and Elman (whose work this book is primarily dedicated to). The book also demonstrates Tad's ability to take complex and varied concepts and extract the essence that makes them easy to learn, understand, and use. If this book is your first foray into the world of hypnosis, it will give you a good knowledge of the three main forms of hypnosis: non-directive-permissive, directive-authoritarian and client-centered. This makes the book an excellent initial text for students just beginning to learn the art and science of hypnosis.