This is not a book that explains what BDSM is, this is a book that explains what BDSM is all about. This is a book for people who are considering stepping into real time BDSM, and it is also a book for people who have been involved in the community for a while. This book treats the world of BDSM as a culture unto itself and goes a long way to explaining the expectations, rules, and words that are common to this culture. This book does not tell you how to use any implements (floggers, canes, etc), but it does explain why in the world you'd want to use such implements. This is a must-have resource book for your kink library.