Book recommendations

[sapatiero]

Was just replying to a post about Aikido & it reminded me about a great book I once read. So any of you guys want to recommend some MA books to read/avoid? My initial thoughts are:

Angry White Pyjamas - Robert Twigger

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/068...054420?ie=UTF8

- About an academic living in Japan who ends up doing the tokyo riot police aikido course. The course is incredibly tough & the sh*t that this guy goes through will inspire any martial artist.


Watch My Back - Geoff Thompson

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...e=UTF8&s=books

- Geoff Thompson is well known in the UK. He's a tough martial artist who trained a number of MMA guys in the 90's before MMA was popular here. This is his story, including working on the doors of the roughest clubs in england.

The Gracie Way - Kid Peligro

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193...e=UTF8&s=books

Love em, or hate em? Either way you can't deny what they've done to bring modern martial arts to the public today. This book goes through the family members & gives a potted history of their battles along the way (this is where I get stick for being a 'hugger').

Cage Fighter - Ian Freeman

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1844540367

I hated this book. I wanted it to be an inspirational story about how a tough life made a tough fighter (like Watch My Back), but it turned out to be an endless tirade of ego IMO. The theme for every chapter seemed to be 'why I'm well hard'. Not for me.

[akio123]

also add Mas Oyama complete karate course book. its also good but be patient while working coz there's no easy way to be great

[Spanner]

Originally Posted by sapatiero

I hated this book. I wanted it to be an inspirational story about how a tough life made a tough fighter (like Watch My Back), but it turned out to be an endless tirade of ego IMO. The theme for every chapter seemed to be 'why I'm well hard'. Not for me.

Glad you said that. Thought it was just me! Very disappointing, and far too much Sunderland doorman politics, which isn't that interesting to anyone outside of Sunderland. Shame, as he's a great fighter.

Enter the Lion's Den - Ken Shamrock.
I like this one, but mainly because of the story of how he made good after getting adopted by Mr Shamrock. It also describes his training and fights really well, giving you a real feel for the early years of MMA contests.

The Guard - John Will
It's hard to learn BJJ from a book, but this is the first one that gave me some idea about how to develop the guard as a dominant position. Pretty short, but definitely worth borrowing off your friend.

Zen in the Martial Arts - Joe Hyams
Bit of a classic. Think everyone in MA has read it at some point. Not just Zen either here, but lots of lessons about being patient and pleasant in life, delivered through cool anecdotes about training with Bruce Lee.

[Spanner]

Moving Toward Stillness: Lessons in Daily Life from the Martial Ways of Japan - Dave Lowry
Half of this book is very interesting and thoughtful, but the other half is just a load of 'my martial art is more japanese and traditional than yours' whinging, which is fairly tedious and drags it down.

Samurai and Cherry Blossom - David Scott
This on the other hand, is a delicate and fairly balanced narrative of a dedicated karateka's travels round Japan in the early eighties following the cherry blossom.

[Bjjexpertise@be]

Jiu-Jitsu Unleashed- Eddie Bravo.
People give him a lot of shit but his book helped me out alot. The rubber guard is one of my bread and butter guards now. Just be sure to be semi-flexible before you attempt these moves to ensure you don't **** up your knees.

[EmptyneSs]

A Tale of Two Cities

[danfaggella]

I've read a few. I found Renzo's "Mastering Jujutsu" to be a very well written and well orgonized book, with plenty of history/principle/technique, it was put together in a very professional manner.

Maybe its because I am obsessed with Judo (even though I only do gi BJJ once a week....), but "Best Judo" is the first book I took out of the library when I wanted to get into grappling, and there is a lot of great stuff in there. It goes over all of stances and bows and throws and newaza and combination moves (switching attacks, deception) in the perfect amount of detail. The authors are world-class judoka, and they each have the brief story of thier life in Judo at the end of the book, which is very interesting and motivating. I've taken this book out of the library 4 or 5 times and I read the ending stories each time. If you like gi grappling, and are anywhere near as into gi takedowns as I am (even though I don't get to use them a lot), this is a great read, its one of those must have for ANY judoka, but I'd recomend it for anyone into grappling, its a great work.

[Penance]

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai -
Interesting book concerning Bushido. Lots of Confuscian-esque stuff. Some of it's so far removed from modern American life, that it's both funny and enlightening. Worth reading if only to get some insight into another person's way of life in the 1700's.

The Book of Five Rings:
Another one of those books everyone's probably read. I didn't really get much out of the translation that I read. Seemed more like a 500 year old self-help book than anything else. Most of the advice is very abstract and Musashi spends more time telling you to "appreciate this point and study it hard" than giving you anything substantional to chew on.

[Kirves]

Gene Simco: BJJ - The Master Text
And Joe Lewis' new book about Bruce Lee's stuff (the title slips my mind at the moment).