《日书》的性质类似于今日的农民历，举凡饮食、裁衣、建筑、出行等日常生活，及婚姻、丧葬等择日宜忌，都有详尽的说明。由于考古事业的发展，埋没二千余年的《日书》重现于世。近年来，随着出土文献的日益增多，以往不被关注的《日书》开始逐渐进入研究者的视域，一些系统研究《日书》的论著也开始出现，提供了人们认识战国秦汉民众文化的契机。
本书以《日书》“图像” 为研究中心，通过系统梳理、归纳迄今发掘出土的《日书》“图像”资料，并在此基础上对图式、图画进行分类、排列，首次较为完整地整理出了一个有关《日书》图像发展演变的序列。
全书共分五章，除导论、结语外，分别讨论了《日书》表示时空的图式、《日书》表示时空的图画、楚帛书表示时空的图式等问题。通过本论著的研究，可以极大地丰富人们对《日书》各种图像内涵与源流的认识，为今后进一步通过《日书》图像这一崭新视角来研究战国秦汉时代的历史文化打下了一个坚实的基础。

1993年中国社科院博士论文

Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China is a comprehensive introduction to the manuscripts known as daybooks, examples of which have been found in Warring States, Qin, and Han tombs (453 BCE–220 CE). Their main content concerns hemerology, or “knowledge of good and bad days.” Daybooks reveal the place of hemerology in daily life and are invaluable sources for the study of popular culture.
Eleven scholars have contributed chapters examining the daybooks from different perspectives, detailing their significance as manuscript-objects intended for everyday use and showing their connection to almanacs still popular in Chinese communities today as well as to hemerological literature in medieval Europe and ancient Babylon.
Contributors include: Marianne Bujard, László Sándor Chardonnens, Christopher Cullen, Donald Harper, Marc Kalinowski, Li Ling, Liu Lexian, Alasdair Livingstone, Richard Smith, Alain Thote, and Yan Changgui.