At this point, there aren't that many books in English about Lenormand divination, so it would be reasonable to expect that the few books that do exist would focus on the basics of Lenormand and how to get started. Many of them do just that, but that's not this book's strength, and I can't recommend it as your Very First Lenormand Book. Dunn is forthright about that, saying that this is "only secondarily a how-to book," but it's not that obvious from the cover and the book description.

This book is intended for a reader who is familiar with the tarot, but not with Lenormand. It's mainly about Lenormand and secondarily about the Major Arcana (there isn't much about the Minor Arcana). Dunn provides a list of keywords and sample illustrations for both of these, and if you're feeling adventurous, you could get started learning Lenormand from that. But I think many people want a bit more to work with when they're learning a new system. For instance, card combinations are important in reading Lenormand. I enjoyed Dunn's analysis of four kinds of card combinations, but if this was my introduction to Lenormand, that would have confused me. He refused to list card combinations—and I understand there's always a danger when you have a list like that of deciding those are the only right answers and not trusting your intuition—but I liked seeing several examples (in other books) to get a feel for them.

Since other books will lead you through the basics, I recommend reading this book for what it covers that those others don't. There's a chapter on asking questions that would be useful for any form of divination, not just cartomancy. Dunn discusses questions that reveal meaning and those that reveal data, why some querents don't seem to have questions or don't want to tell you what they are, and how to focus a question so that it gets at what the querent actually wants to know. He speculates on how divination works and offers suggestions on how to use abductive reasoning (nonrational thinking) to perceive patterns. He talks about how to pay attention to how your body feels when you consider card combinations so that you're less likely to lie to yourself about a reading. There's a chapter on divination and magic, for when you wish to shape events, not just learn about them. Dunn writes with a sense of humor (the first appendix is called "Okay, Fine, A List of Meanings for the Cards, if You Insist"), and I thought the book was not just informative but a pleasure to read. ( )