This hardcover edition of the original English/Japanese version is smaller in size and does not have the charm-the energy of the original. It seems they did nothing but crop the text and voided it of it's original intention. Funny thing since this bock and author are all about intention. The original series had heavy bound, glossy finished paper with a dust cover that seemed to make it a real coffee-table book that had weight. (Quite literally since the hardbound edition is fewer pages and less weight and smaller dimensions.) I perfer the originals. They are collector's items. The newer versions, of past volumes to be released in the near future will similarly be reworked and, in my view, lessened.

Masaru Emoto presents outstanding pilot experiments on mental, vibrational and spiritual influences that can alter the crystalline structure of water.

Masaru Emoto is a Doctor of Alternative Medicine (Open International University). He has been studying the micro cluster structure of water using Magnetic Resonance Analysis. Emoto found that when water from polluted sources is frozen, the crystals have a disorganized, aesthetically ugly appearance. When healing or prayer is directed to the water, its crystalline structure changes to beautiful, symmetric patterns.

The power of words is suggested in experiments in which positive and negative words were written on pieces of paper and taped to bottles of water from the same source. Correspondingly pretty, symmetrical crystals or disorganized, aesthetically unpleasing forms were produced. Classical music produced aesthetically pleasing crystals while heavy metal music (unspecified) produced chaotic patterns.

Emoto's explorations are ground-breaking beginnings at clarifying some of the influences of conceptual vibrations on water. As 65% of the human body is composed of water, this may provide new avenues to explain some of the influences on the body of mental intents and prayers for healing.

The pictures and explenations are astounding and would be great to believe since he provides such stunning and extravagant photos. The problem? The book does not provide any solid evidence as to WHY the designs are caused by the environmental or other factors the water is exposed to. There is never an instance where the same (or relatively the same) crystal or design is duplicated. In fact, it is known that you can not ever reproduce an identical snowflake, or crystal. Snow has been falling for billions of years, and scientists say that there has never been a duplicate. With this in mind, how can the researchers prove that the shapes or designs are caused by their environment when they can not reproduce the effects? In my belief, they took a random set of pictures, and just put them in the slots that they believed to look good. As far as the changes in lakes, ponds, or rivers, you will notice that the picture itself is different in that other items have been added to the picture (a pole sticking out of the water with a ball at the end, which if I'm not mistaken was to detect wind, in which case the change from no ripples to ripples would be? WIND!), from small things to a house on the shore! Pictures have a multitude of colors from white, orange, and yellow, to black, brown, or red. Where does this color come from? The water is clear, and the ice should be a white color. They are also very vague in some of their environmental descriptions; one of the music choices was described as "Heavy Metal." What? Did they just choose some random song? This book, in my humble opinion, was to dazzle its audience with a mislead belief in spirituality and their environment. Yes, spirituality and certain effects they describe may very well exist, but not in this case. This is a show for people who wish to be entertained with 'the unknown'. A great book for that purpose, and for those who do not look in to the details or the obvious of what is sitting in front of them.