E-book Review: The Best of Wim's Blog

The full title of this book is - Martial Arts Self-Defense and a Whole Lot More: The Best of Wim's Blog, Volume I by Wim Demeere.

Wim Demeere is a martial artist (MA) whose blog I have been following for more than a few years now. You can find the link in the Blogs I Follow section to the bottom right of this home page. He is more than a martial artist, as everyone is, and is pretty objective about what he writes and is entertaining as well. Based on my links and last non-children book review, you can tell what kind of MA blogs and books that I like. :-)

This review concerns the e-book. I follow Demeere on Facebook as well and was lucky enough to score this e-book for free during one of his promotions. So no conflict of interest here.

"The Best Of..." is more than a collection of blog posts. Demeere has taken popular posts/comments and incorporated them into sections where he explains his view on the matters. Like all blogs the content is a matter of opinion or personal experience. It helps to keep that in perspective and it's too bad people don't keep that in mind when responding or commenting.

The subject spectrum is pretty much what you'd expect: self-defense, MMA vs Traditional Martial Arts, training, what is "real" fighting, etc. However, Demeere presents it all in a concise manner without any nonsensical filler you find in some MA blogs and books. The material is presented from his experiences, so it's different from what you know, or I know, or even others with a long history of either MA training, LEO or other violence experience know. That's what makes it a good subject read. Note that it is not a "how-to" or literary masterpiece - and it is not intended this way.

I found it very useful in that it supported some of my held notions on martial arts and challenged others. A great section for most people is the section on sparring. For example, we are focusing more on sparring during our Summer training sessions. My Sensei and Demeere say pretty much the same thing - sparring at the end of class is primarily time to work on the drills or tactics you have just been taught. Not to beat on each other, which accomplishes nothing.  Unfortunately I see this a lot with some of my fellow students. Luckily my partner is on the same page. When it's time for free-sparring, that's different. Demeere does a great job of breaking down the types of partners who deviate from the script and suggests good ways to deal with them.

You could get all of this information on his blog by searching but it's pretty spread out, plus you'd have to filter through all of the comments. Having it available on my smartphone in airplane mode is important for me, especially when my commuter train goes underground. The guest posts at the end of the book were a nice addition. He asked colleagues (Marc "Animal" MacYoung, Loren Christensen, Rory Miller, etc.)  to write on anything they wanted. All he told them was the nature of his blog and this book, and set no limits. That was a real treat but it looks like you'll have to get the book to enjoy them. All in all the book provides pretty solid advice, common sense actions/reactions, and a level-headedness uncommon in the MA world. Well worth the couple of bucks it costs.

Book Review- The Little Bubishi: A History of Karate for Children

It's been awhile but I think I have a few interesting posts coming up this week. First is my review of a children's karate book. This is a rare book topic, at least in the U.S., and Little Bubishi does a pretty good job of entertaining and teaching.

There is really nothing like this book on the market for children. The only books that I found are Karate for Kids (Martial Arts for Kids) and Karate (Illustrated History of Martial Arts).  I have not read them but from quickly glancing at them they seem too skew to an older demographic.

The editorial review on Amazon.com says that The Little Bubishi "is essential reading for all young karate enthusiasts." I wouldn't say it is essential but it does provide a wealth of moral stories similar to Aesop's Fables that should appeal to children, and they did to me as well. You could almost compare the stories to Norse or Roman versions of the creation of their peoples which morph into actual ancient history. The chapters on the Twenty Precepts of Karate-Do, Karate Terminology and Dojo Etiquette/Rules are well written for children and many adult practitioners could benefit from should reviewing these as well.

This was a little difficult for me to review. It is a children's book and I am not used to reviewing them, much less reading them anymore. So I enlisted help from the target audience, a youth karate-ka. We'll hear from him later.

The folktales that start the book are descriptive and let the imagination run wild. The morals focus on good vs. evil, and using karate with restraint, and never for offense or petty issues. The author continues this theme throughout the book and reinforces them in the final chapters on defense and dojo etiquette.

The stories also begin telling the basic history of karate. This is done concisely - the chapters are very short. The author thankfully does not get bogged down in the different traditions, styles, politics, etc. that you find in many "adult" martial arts literature.

The precepts of karate at the end of the book are a great summary of moral, martial and personal values that are prevalent in all societies but tailored for Karate and based on Japanese culture. Reading these along with proper reinforcement by the karate instructor, and parents, should help any child instill these values in his or her life.

Though this is a children's book, there are a few small things I want to comment on that caught my attention. The writing style caught me off-guard and may affect the book's success with children. It felt like the fairy tales were translated into English by a non-native speaker. So the flow of the stories, and some chapters, were choppy. Perhaps the author intended it this way for it to feels more "authentic". I could be wrong but to me and the aforementioned youth, that was not the affect.

This may be nitpicking but I could not stand the font of the chapter titles. They were painful to read. I suppose you could give your child a pat on the back for successfully reading the titles on the first try. But it was very distracting to me.

Children love pictures. Unfortunately, there aren't many in this book and compared to the cover artwork, they are very anime - think of the kids from Pokémon.

Now for the youth review. Being a typical kid, he kept it short and sweet. In fact he gave me bullet points. So here are his thoughts:

Liked

• Lots of useful information
• the stories
• Some stories are freaky

Didn't Like

• Some really short chapters

I couldn't coerce more out of him so this is what we get...

Except for a few issues not related to the content, I do recommend this as a gift to your beginner karate-ka. Read it with him and discuss the stories, reinforce the morals and let their imagination run free. Just don't let them fight a typhoon or hurricane. A rain storm created from a garden hose will work just fine.

All is in Sanchin Book Review: Meditations on Violence by Sgt. Rory Miller

All is in Sanchin Book Review

Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence

Author: Sgt. Rory Miller

There are many interesting Martial Arts (MA) books on the market. I thought about first reviewing a Uechi-ryu book such as The Way of Karate by George Mattson or Karate: A Master's Secrets of Uechi-Ryu by Ihor Rymaruk. As I went through my collection, I began to think “Why do most people train in MA?”. Why do you train? That’s when I knew which book to start with.

Whatever your specific reasons are for training, they will invariably be related to violence. Whether it’s you or someone you know having been bullied, mugged or worse; or simply wanting to learn “self-defense” because of all the local news stories, it all relates to violence.

Sgt. Miller is a corrections officer with years of fighting experience in multiple situations. He does a great job of explaining the different kinds of violence, people’s perceptions of it and how we deal with it afterwards. I appreciate the fact that he states upfront that he is only telling you about his experiences and observations. Take them for what they are and remember that nothing is more important than your own experiences. That said, he does provide useful insights and training for your body and most importantly, your mind.

Many martial artists will take issue with Sgt. Miller’s assertions that MA will really not help you in an “out of the dojo” attack. That your training and mindset are perfect for the controlled environment but not when you are attacked while in a calm, normal state of mind. According to Sgt. Miller’s experience, the “perfect” fighting distance taught in some MA styles rarely happens in real life – in a parking lot, a bar, bus station or in your own home; nor are the situations that some train for very realistic.

Sgt. Rory does not offer any one MA style or ‘way’ of fighting as a solution since none covers everything one needs to know. But he does give great training advice and outlines what kind of training will help prepare you for the types of attacks you may face and the physiological and brain reactions to being attacked unexpectantly. The book categorizes violence into different types with general defenses to combat them. These include training for surprise attacks (though it isn’t really a surprise if you’re expecting it), using confidence and boredom, and knowing when to flee and use counter attacks.

I realized before starting training in Uechi-ryu Karate that it wasn’t going to make me a “kick-ass” fighter like on TV, though I expected to and have learned some great offensive and defensive tools. According to the book, part of the issue with MA is that you usually only work on certain moves and many people going into dojos get their concepts of violence from Jackie Chan and Jason Statham movies. Training with this mindset can be dangerous to yourself and your fellow students. Time and distance are crucial in a fight and the simplest counter attacks are often the most effective.

I do like Sgt. Rory’s insights on the psychological aspects of violence for both the attacker and victim, and of the “Monkey Dance”. I have no real experience in this to the degree he presents but he provoked me into learning more about it. Challenging assumptions is a large part of this book and many of the author’s assertions can be very useful. I saw myself in some of the examples and am trying to improve on the ones I feel I need to work on the most.

So how does Sanchin and Uechi fit into all of this? Opinions differ greatly but this is what I can say.

Honestly I don’t know. I haven’t reached the black belt level. Black Belt training is where you really start getting into the “hardcore” Uechi training. As a 2 Kyu in my school, we do get trained in the basics of striking hard, fast and at your opponent’s weakest area available to you. This training is similar to some of what’s advocated in this book.

Sanchin training conditions your body to at least absorb some blows and protects your core. This may give you the opportunity to quickly counter-strike, get out of the way or run. As for the rest, I will find out more as I progress.

Meditations on Violence is a fresh offering in a sea of self-defense and Martial Arts books. It consists of one person sharing his experiences and observations on the causes of, types of and combating violence. The book has generated discussion on multiple forums and blogs and deservedly so. I agree with much of what is in the book, not all, and believe it should be required reading for all self-defense /martial arts teachers and students. It provides great information, advice and examples. Most of all, it makes you question your assumptions and way of thinking.