The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts (read for fun)

I think this book was a gift from years back, and it is yet another book that has languished for a while on my shelf. This is an overview of many popular martial art traditions,  ten total (13 if counting different styles within the same tradition. It's a good book over all but it has some drawbacks. 

The book is divided into sections for each martial art, or a particular style within each martial art tradition. Each starts with history of the art or style and some philosophy to go with it. Next is basic etiquette and equipment. Third is common warm ups followed by basic techniques and then advanced techniques. 

I found all of these sections educational, helpful, and interesting. Etiquette is often as important for the martial art as the techniques, and receives as much attention. Both have full-color pictures showing each step, and they even include close-ups on some techniques involving grips. The back of the book lists the names, styles and rank of the people in the photographs, and they are all experts, including the author, Fay Goodman herself. So you can be sure that what you see is correct. 

This book provides a greater breadth of general martial art information than anything I've come across. However, it doesn't have depth. 

The book is a good sample platter, so to speak, to get the gist of the martial art in question. This is only to wet your appetite. If you want to learn more about a specific martial art then you'll need to look elsewhere. This means either finding a book dedicated to the specific martial art or finding a teacher or otherwise an expert who can tell you more about it. Indeed, most of the pages on technique include the refrain "Only practice this under the supervision of an expert" or something to that effect. 

Also, some of the sections are shorter than others. The section on Tae Known Do, for instance, is smaller than the ones for Karate and Kung Fu, so the Tae Known Do section has even less depth than some of the others. 

It is overall a good resource. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives ""The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts" a B+

Click here for my next book review (for fun): Spice and Wolf volume 9 Town of Strife part 2

Click here for my previous book review (for fun) : A Witch's Printing Office volume 2

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration). His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

Tai Chi Bible (read for knowledge, and fun)

Tai Chi Bible

This is yet another book I found at my local library (libraries are great!).

The first thing one should know about this book and its author, Dan Docherty, is that it is a book on practical Tai Chi. That is, this Tai Chi is meant to be a form of self-defense that would be effective in real-life situations. Mr. Docherty distinguishes this (Tai Chi Chuan) from Tai Chi that is practiced purely for competition aesthetics or for health benefits. The latter of these is the stereotypical really-slow one. Mr. Docherty considers these latter two kinds to be incomplete at best, and missing the entire point/corrupted at worst. This is one reason why some other Tai Chi practitioners consider him to be a "heretic". He addresses this in the front and back chapters.

I like practical applications of martial arts, so that was perfect for me. I wanted something that will be useful in addition to good exercise. I've been using several of the techniques in this book here every morning as part of my daily exercise. It is helpful to fully wake up and start my day. However, I do not think this book is quite practical enough.

The techniques are described with both pictures of people demonstrating the techniques and words that describe the technique and its application. Both are, in a word, laconic. It can take some time to figure out precisely how to perform the technique and how this translates into the practical application.

In particular, Mr. Docherty does not mention a starting position for each technique or says something along the lines of "from technique X", and I don't know if he means the start of the end of Technique X. It is rare for him to state which stance should be used. It is like he transliterates what he says to students in person and takes pictures of what said students look like after they take the right positions for each motion.

There is a section on weapons that has even less elaboration. They are one picture and a title; no words, instructions or diagrams present. I would hardly call this a "definitive guide".

After the core technique section, he references these techniques while discussing other subjects. He doesn't mention which page these techniques are on, so one has to either page through or go to the index. It is inconvenient.

At either end of the book, there are brief areas where Mr. Docherty talks about other things related to Tai Chi. He is unapologetic to say the least in his ideas about modern Tai Chi and practitioners that he disapproves of. He makes a lot of good points, but it feels like trashing people who trash on him.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Tai Chi Bible" a C+

Click here for my next book review ( a request): The Endless Lands


Click here for my previous book review A Witch's Printing Office - volume 1

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration). His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

Read for fun: Medieval Towns - a reader

"Medieval Towns - a reader" is a book from one of my college classes. It is only recently that I've had time to fully read it.

This is a book of primary sources related to urban communities in Europe from the Late Roman Period to the Late Medieval Period. It covers mostly Western Europe: British Isles, Iberian peninsula, Italy and Sicily, and the eastern parts of Germania.

It covers a broad range of subjects: economy, religion, marriage and families, social conflict, entertainment (which is mixed with "civic ritual"). The documents available to them vary from court documents and chronicles to private diaries, and from personal letters to royal proclamations. Each one is sandwiched by a paragraph giving background information on it, which I assume to be written by the editor, and a group of questions about it. I presume these are meant to be discussion questions because the answers to many of them are not contained within the documents themselves.

I found them interesting. As a novelist, I expect to make frequent use of this book whenever my story takes place in a medieval European setting.

Something like this is too outside my standard grading system to give an official grade, so I'll just given it a "Pass +".

Click here for my next book review (a request): The Adventures of Sir Edric


Click here for my previous book review (also for fun): Sword Art Online volume 9

Brian Wilkerson is a freelance book reviewer, writing advice blogger and independent novelist. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Read for fun: The Italian City Republics

This is another textbook I kept from a college course. It was about Europe's Medieval Cities and specifically about the development of urban cities in one part of it. "The Italian City Republics" was one of them. It focuses on the "communes" developed in Northern Italy during this period.

Subjects are their origins, how they functioned, how they developed over time, and how they related with other governmental entities in comparison to their own inner discord/harmony. The last chapters focuses on all the vulnerabilities that ultimately lead to many of them failing in one way or another.

I found this book to be quite useful and informative. It has a focus on the structure and function of the various forms of governments (consul, podesta, Captain of the Pololo, etc.) and provides much in the way of details and examples of them. Other areas, such as the social or cultural aspects of the communes are only included insofar as they effect and are effected by the government

The organization of the book itself is well thought-out. For instance, putting a chapter about "External relations" back-to-back with one about "internal Divisions" was useful for easy compare/contrast. This, in turn, aids understanding and retention for the next chapter, the tendency for communes to fall. After reading about all the points of failure, the sharp rivalries and general commotion that could take place, the reader is primed to learn how fragile the communes could be.

Much of the information is pulled from historical documents and official government stuff, which is certainly relevant. However, there is also helpful input from another angle. For instance, several lines from Dante's "Divine Comedy" are used to illustrate Florence's habit with re-writing its constitution.

Photographs of buildings, locations, paintings and statues are also included. I enjoyed looking them over and relating them to the subject, such as the fortified towers that were built by factionalism and conspicuous consumption.

I'm definitely keeping this as reference material.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Italian City Republics" an A+

Click here for the next book review (for fun): How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker

Click here for the previous book review (for fun): The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).