What would be better, I think, is to allow all skills if you have sufficient level and points invested in corresponding Way of the..., but make their power depend on stats.
That's sort of my thinking too - the "skill" ability levels would govern which (as well as how many) of that category's skills you could learn (i.e. bringing back one aspect of the system that had been in prior beta versions, with "Level 1" through "Level 5" skills), while other player stats (such as attributes, talents, and/or character level) would govern how effective those skills are.
The idea of having to keep a library of skillbooks in your inventory seems a bit unwieldy to me. What if instead of getting a skillbook back when you switch skills, the Skills interface is changed slightly to add indications (greying out?) of what skills are in your deck. From there you could choose to activate and deactivate skills from the skills menu without having to use books.
That looks/sounds great to me too.
