Wiseman, John

Conneticut 06437: The Lysons press, 156 pages (1997)
ISBN: 1-5857-060-8
The Globe Pequot Press, PO Box 480, Guilford

Highly Recommended

Many people who are into martial arts have considered at some level or another how they would handle a real conflict. One often wonders if their skills learned in the Dojo or Dojang would hold up in real situations. Many of us have heard many stories of people very proficient in martial arts losing confrontations against people with far less skill and experience. This book that can answer a lot of those questions.

As the sentence at the bottom of the cover suggests, this is really ﾓa complete guide to unarmed combat techniques.ﾔ It covers almost everything you would need to know and is also geared to both male and female readers.

The book is divided in two halves: the first half is devoted to the mental attitude of self defence. The first chapter tells you about what self defense is, as in the types of conflicts (mugging, domestic violence, etc.), staying alert, confronting the problem, and legal issues with self defence. Then in the next chapter it goes straight into the most important weapon of all: positive thinking. In fact, this is where it teaches you how positive thinking and the right assertive attitude and posture can significantly reduce having to fight at all. In my opinion, if you never have to fight the fight, youﾒve won. Chapter 3 goes into spotting trouble, avoiding the fights, cooling down a confrontation once itﾒs started, being street wise, dealing with gangs and drunks, various transportation choices and their risks, and even driving strategies and techniques of distraction. Also in this first half of the book the brief psychology of potential attackers and their potential targets is discussed. The value of martial arts classes is also stated in various parts in terms of the psychology and the fitness benefits it provides.

Part two of the book is all about what happens when the first half of the bookﾒs techniques and methods do not work. It covers how to use your head, hands, elbows, knees and feet correctly as weapons, and from here, you can see how your martial arts techniques training can help. A lot of these moves (especially the versatile side kick) is taught and improved at martial arts classes, and for those who have taken some aikido, Chapter 5ﾒs diagrams of countering attacks will look very familiar. Chapter 3 goes into various objects in every day life you can use as weapons (even a rolled up newspaper). Crucially, chapter 4 addresses the targets on the opponent you want to hit and how. It explains you your opponentﾒs weak spots and for those who donﾒt know them yet, it suddenly opens up all kinds of new options against your opponent. The last chapter (chapter 5) is a series of diagrams on self-defense techniques. They encompass mostly those found in aikido (and I assume also jujutsu). Some of the moves seem a bit too complicated to learn from a book, but there are enough simple yet effective moves in here to make it useful.

I recommend this book very highly as it goes much further and deeper into self-defense and real situation conflicts than most other books I have seen. It covers psychology, physique and techniques in avoiding and if necessary, winning confrontations. Although there are books out there that cover the chapter 5 subject matter (the actual fighting method) a little better, the coverage of preparation and methods dealing with conflicts before they start is some of the most thorough I have seen.

Annotated by: Ha Young Gwak (December 2003)

Martial Arts: Aikido | Jujitsu | Taekwondo |

Topics: crime | legal issues | psychology | self-defense | training/exercise science | weapons |