I'm an advanced skier, former PSIA Instructor, and think this is the very best book on alpine skiing using shaped skis (have accumulated some 19 ski books in my home library). Harald Harb backs up what he writes with superb demos of pertinent exercises on green and blue hills, and additional skiing footage on black/double black diamond slopes. These demos are best seen in the 3 DVDs mentioned below. Chocked full of great "how to" information, the ESSENTIALS book contains the salient points of skiing from Mr. Harb's 2 highly successful earlier works: ANYONE CAN BE AN EXPERT SKIER I and II. Mr. Harb begins where ski turns start - the feet - and works his way up the body's kinetic chain in an easily understandable way. DVD demos of the ESSENTIALS book are available for purchase (3 of them) separately: "Tipping", "Complete Upper Body", and "Flexing & Fore/Aft Balancing." Recommend acquiring these DVD's too, however, the book stands alone for enormous instructional value. Finally, if you're a never-ever skier, you might want to start with the "Expert Skier" books and their DVDs, mentioned above.