Jay Wiseman's SM 101 has gained something of a reputation as the book to read if you're just starting to play with BDSM. Certainly it was the first book I read on BDSM, and I found it quite useful as an introduction. However, I ran up against its limitations rather quickly...but more on that later.

Wiseman has clearly thought hard about how to "sell" BDSM to people who might be interested but too nervous to actually try it. To that end, some suggestions are given on how to find BDSM-friendly playmates or bring up the idea of BDSM to a partner who hasn't considered it.

The real meat of the book, however, is in the several chapters describing various techniques of BDSM play. Wiseman carefully and (usually) clearly describes all manner of BDSM equipment, concepts, and terminology (the latter is supplemented by a detailed glossary at the back of the book). There are a few line drawings, but not really enough: while Wiseman is an excellent writer, I found myself wishing for more illustrations to supplement the text.

The book is chock-full, however, of another kind of illustration: on every page is a pull-quote that Wiseman heard someone in the BDSM community say -- everything from "Kneel!" to detailed descriptions of how it feels to submit. These quotes are a treasure, and really help put a human face on the BDSM scene.

Wiseman was near the top of his class in medical school (he dropped out before graduation, for reasons detailed in the book), and perhaps that has something to do with his pervasive emphasis on safety. It's very nice, especially in a beginning-level BDSM book such as this one, to have someone with medical training saying "this technique is completely safe; that one is unacceptably risky for most people". One of the book's appendices is a detailed monograph on the safety of breath control play. However, Wiseman occasionally seems safety-obsessed past a reasonable point, and as I gain more BDSM experience, I realize that his safety recommendations are slightly on the overcautious side. Then again, that's probably a very good thing for beginners.

Besides its occasional overcautiousness, this book's other shortcoming is that it occasionally gets a little too "one-true-wayish". Wiseman devotes a large part of the book to describing his own approach as a dom. While he may have meant it as an example to provide inspiration, his writing often seems to imply that his way is the only way to do things, when in fact every dom may have a slightly different approach. Some people might take away a distorted impression of the BDSM scene because of this somewhat egocentric viewpoint.

These criticisms pale, however, in comparison to the overall value of this book. SM 101 is a fine introductory manual, and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in BDSM -- just read some other books and websites (or better yet, talk to people in your local BDSM community) so that you get some other perspectives.

Recommended:
Yes