Old Wisdom with New Lessons - Rated 
The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) is a GREAT book, if you take time to properly absorb and understand ALL of its teachings. It's not a very long book and so would be easy to read a few times over so that you get a proper flavour of the important message being presented.
A better and easier to digest version (IMHO) of this small book is "Samurai Strategies: 42 Martial Secrets" by by Boye De Lafayette Mente, who very cleverly summarises this book into 42 easy to digest and understand and apply chapters.
The ideas in this book are NOT dangerous to anyone in the least, IF you balance and apply ALL of the lessons within it - that's the idea that the great undefeated warrior Musashi was trying to put across. The life saving principles he expounds here are designed to help us all have a better, easier and more fulfilled life, Martial Artist or not. His strategies can be applied and used by anyone.
"A knife is dangerous for anyone - you just have to learn how to use is safely & intelligently"
We are all so lucky & truly blessed that, nearly 400 years ago, someone called Lord Hosokawa had the foresight to ask the ageing Musashi to write down his secrets of success. Musashi himself was not only extremely talented but must have been a very intelligent man for his time to write such a treatise.
The comment (else ware) about this book not being for beginners is misleading I think, it isn't that hard to understand and extrapolate the true meaning and intentions that Musashi was trying to put across.
Don't be put off by ANY of the negative criticisms (in other reviews), it's only because they've missed the point or just quickly scanned & glossed over the book.
Although we are not entirely certain of Musashi's religious bent, Musashi bases his book [loosely] on the Zen Buddhist philosophies of the Five Elements - Earth, Water, Fire, Wind & Emptiness. One of his close associates was Takuan Soho, author of "The Unfettered Mind"
A must-read for all serious martial artists! - Rated
Despite being technically focussed on swordsmanship (Musashi was one of the greatest swordsmen ever, by most accounts), the insights and philosophies presented in this book are of great relevance to martial artists of any style, and Musashi's grasp of the complex psychological elements of combat mark him out as a true master. This is one of those books that can be read over and over again, and each reading will give the diligent student new gems to apply to his art. I would direct readers to the sections on "the grip", and to those concerning footwork, as being particularly useful to first-time readers. Tarver's translation is particularly sensitive, and his martial arts background allows him to see the essence of Musashi's teachings, and to present them in a manner that is relevant to martial artists. In all, a masterful book, well-translated!
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