Chia and North have created a rich resource of practical and useful guidelines to Taoist Shamanic practice, in language that can be easily understood by non-Taoists (muggles?) The overview and history of the Taoist tradition, the comparisons with other shamanic pathways, and the real sense of spirit shining forth from these pages are nothing less than inspirational. North's anecdotes about his own experiences with different shamanic practitioners give a strong sense of reality to esoteric ideas.
As one who has studied Taoist practice extensively with both Chia (in the days when I could afford his very expensive retreats!) and North, I can confirm that the practices they teach and the wisdom they impart are helpful for starting out on the way of the shaman. In this book, the bibliography gives useful connections to other shamanic resources.
I have three criticisms of this book which is why I have given only four stars: as mentioned in my comment on another review, there is the usual copy-paste from Chia's other works which would not impact on new readers but disappointing for regular students.
My other criticisms are that publishers have chosen to present this book in a small-print font that makes for difficult reading although it reduces the book to a handy size, and their proof-readers missed 'scared sex' on the back cover. The context indicates it should be 'sacred sex.' But who knows!