Morpheous

Two lulz to note

1) I bought this book many years ago because i was curious and intimidated by the scene and public sexuality in general, and being a generally socially anxious person never read it until now, a few years after deciding I'm happy as a spinster. So I'm totally not the intended audience and in fact may be an anti-audience.
2) I interpreted the title as how to be more kinky after reading; I did not realize there is an earlier, more introductory book called 'How to be Kinky'

Anyway, given that:
I think the book is pretty great, for the follow reasons:

1) I didn't realize it _wasn't_ an intro book. As you read it everything seems like basic stuff, even if some of the techniques are designed in more of a reference/survey way (Hmm, we want to try out X, let me peruse the appropriate chapter)
2) There's a lot of basic knowledge in every chapter. The book assumes you're a novice at all things, and for example while there is a chapter dedicated to safety near the end of the book, specific safety tips run through each chapter.
3) Morpheus has a very kindly and gently funny way of writing. His tone is a tone of safety and kindness, and it shows in what he advocates as well (even while gleefully discussing a scene from a dominant point of view.) It really sets the right mood, as someone who has peripheral exposure to compassion/kindness-centric fetish scenes now.
4) The models in the book are relatively diverse. As always one can keep striving towards perfection of showing that every body type, shape, etc... is a happy participating in this activity, but unlike a lot of books which focus on a thin white goth sultry look, this book does at least show different kinds of people playing together. And they don't necessarily look model-sultry, sometimes they look like you or me having fun!
5) The book focuses as much on soft skills as hard skills. The book not only talks about how to do an activity, but also tips on engaging with the other person to invoke the kinds of moods he assumes yo want to evoke while also strengthening/maintaining your relationship in a general sense. This obviously becomes very key when dealing with dominant/submissive or master/slave relationships, but he also does things like talk about surprises when using particular tools, or the fluid distinction between kink, poly, open relationships, etc....

I'm really curious what the "more basic" book in this series says now! Anyway I think this is a great orientation on how to engage with kink, and a good starting reference on a variety of kink activities even you'll want resources for digging deeper eventually.… (meer)