If you simply wish to work on your own residence or small business, you should be able to get enough information about feng-shui from my book A Master Course in Feng-shui. But knowing just enough about feng-shui to take care of your personal needs doesn't give you the expertise to work on other people's houses and businesses, just as knowing how to wire a switch doesn't automatically make you a licensed electrician. No book can replace the kind of training given to professional feng-shui practitioners.

Apprenticeship

The only way to study feng-shui seriously is to enter into an apprenticeship with a master practitioner. Start out by learning one of the traditional schools: San-yüan, San-ho, Hsüan-k'ung, or Pa-chai. Since a competent practitioner should be trained in both the Landform Classification and Building Characteristics branches of feng-shui, you might do best to study San-yüan or Hsüan-k'ung first, since those two schools concern themselves with both landforms and buildings, whereas the San-ho school covers Landform Classification only and the Pa-chai school concerns itself exclusively with the feng-shui of buildings. Even after finishing your apprenticeship, you'll need to keep on learning in order to adapt traditional concepts for modern use.