The Journey to Black Belt

by Kevin Brett

Kevin Brett’s book is the perfect book for anyone who is interested in getting into the martial arts or getting their children started in the martial arts. The Journey to Black Belt covers everything that a potential student needs to know in order to make an informed decision when it comes to selecting the right martial arts style, school, and instructor. He explains the difference in the individual martial arts, as well as guides the reader concerning what he or she should look for when trying to decide on the right instructor. Mr. Brett even covers things such as discovering your true goals and how to achieve your goals.

The book is organized much like an outline with short topic sections throughout. I personally find books which are formatted in this style, especially guide books or resource books, much easier to read and follow. The format and style of this book is perfect.

This is, without a doubt, the most complete book of its kind on the market. I really can’t think of anything that a potential martial arts student would need to know that The Journey to Black Belt leaves out. It is simply that complete! The Journey to Black Belt is divided into six main units, each packed with useful information. These units are as follows:

1)      Succeeding in the Martial Arts

2)      Transforming Children’s Character with Martial Arts

3)      Self-Defense and Combat Situations

4)      Key Martial Arts Training Concepts

5)      Martial Arts History and Styles

6)      Shopping for a School and Style

Mr. Brett has also included several very useful appendix sections which list a great deal of very useful information such as listings of martial arts organizations, martial arts school directories, a dictionary of common martial arts terms, martial arts resources, and even a goal completion worksheet. I found the resources in the back of the book to be a wonderful addition to the book as a whole.

In short, if you are thinking of getting involved in the martial arts or getting your children involved in the martial arts, don’t sign any contract or enter into any training agreement until you have read this book. The Journey to Black Belt will help you avoid the many pitfalls that one can easily step into when it comes to choosing the right martial art school, martial art style, and martial arts instructor. If you want to make an informed decision as opposed to just trusting someone’s sales pitch, you need to get this book! 5 Stars!

Bohdi Sanders
The Wisdom Warrior

Lock On: Joint Lock Essentials

By Alain Burrese

Lock On: Joint Lock Essentials is an excellent DVD series. I have reviewed volume 2 and volume 3 and I found them both to be very professional and top quality. These DVD’s are 90 minutes long and are taught by martial arts expert Alain Burrese.

Volume 2 covers arms bars and elbow locks. Unlike many martial arts DVD’s, Burrese teaches the principles behind the techniques. Essentially, he teaches you the why and not merely the how. This is very important, not just in joint locks, but in everything that you do. You must understand the underlying principles in order to under-stand why you are doing what you are doing. Burrese does a great job of explaining the anatomy of the elbow and why these locks work the way they do.

Volume 3 covers shoulder locks. Just like the second volume, this DVD covers many different techniques and discusses why each technique works. The mechanics behind the techniques taught in both of these DVD’s to easy to understand and are shown in both slow motion and faster speed. Each technique is clearly explained and very detailed.

I found both of these volumes to be very clear and easy to follow. The audio is great and both DVD’s are professionally filmed. The techniques are shown from different angles and Burrese also teaches different variations of both the shoulder lock and the elbow lock. Also, unlike many martial arts DVD’s, Burrese does not repeat the same technique over and over again. This allows him to cover more techniques instead of wasting precious time on the same technique.

Each DVD covers anatomy, underlying principles, mechanics, and different variations of the techniques. Burrese also covers speed, accuracy, and the element of surprise. These are great DVD’s for both the beginning martial artist and the experienced martial artist. Alain Burrese obviously knows what he is talking about when it comes to joint locks. As with other Aiki Productions DVD’s, the Lock On DVD’s are top quality and well worth your time and investment. No matter what martial art you study, I believe that you will find these DVD’s will help you improve your self-defense skills. I highly recommend both of these DVD’s!  5 Stars!

Bohdi Sanders
The Wisdom Warrior

Training the Samurai Mind
A Bushido Sourcebook

by Thomas Cleary

Training the Samurai Mind is a collection of teachings from samurai, Confucian teachers, and Taoist teachers from 1349-1865. I found the teachings in this book to be full of useful wisdom for those who are seeking to live the warrior lifestyle. Of course some of the teachings are more useful than others, but overall I really enjoyed this book. Thomas Cleary seems to have a knack for finding interesting writings and translating them so those of us in the West can benefit from the wisdom that we would otherwise not be privy to.

The subtitle on this book is “A Bushido Source Book” and could just as easily be called The Bushido Chronicles as it chronicles writing pertaining to the warrior lifestyle over 500 years. This book combined with the writings of Sun Tzu, Lao Ztu, and Cleary’s translation of the Code of the Samurai, will give the warrior a clear picture of what the Asian warrior was all about, as well as give the warrior a guide to how to live a life of character, honor and integrity.

I highly recommend this book to every martial artist, every military man, and everyone who may be interested in the ways of Asian wisdom. I honestly don’t see how you could read this and not get some benefit from the wisdom that it contains. Highly recommended!

Bohdi Sanders
The Wisdom Warrior

Code of the Warrior

by Shannon E. French

I found The Code of the Warrior to be a good background summary of some of the origins of the warrior ideals that have been accepted and followed by true warriors over the centuries. Ms. French does a good job at summarizing several warrior cultures, giving history and vital background information which help the reader understand the origins of the different warrior characteristics. This is not a “Pollyanna” look at the traits of the warrior. This book does not simply glorify specific warrior cultures as so many others do. Instead, Ms French delves into both the positives and negatives of each of the eight different cultures that she chose to include in her book. This is done in a very straight-forward and balanced way, as you would expect from an educator.

Personally, I found this book very well written and extremely interesting. The author recommends, and I concur, that the person who has a goal of living life as a true warrior, take what is good from each of these warrior “codes” and leave what is no longer useful for the warrior of today. All of the warrior cultures from the past had both good traits and some which are less than useful for the modern warrior. This book presents both so that you can determine what to accept as part of your personal code and what you would probably be better off leaving to the cultures in question. Besides the discussions of individual warrior cultures, the author also provides the reader with a good bit of history about each of these cultures, which I also found very interesting.

The one area that I wished that the author would have included was an overall summary/combination of the traits from each of these cultures that should make up the code of the warrior for the true warrior of today. It would have been nice if she had taken the best of each of these societies and combined them into a simple summary of traits that should be part of the code of the warrior today, but instead she leaves that up to the reader to decide. This is probably best because, in the end, the code of the true warrior is something that he or she needs to decide on and be dedicated to from a deeply personal dedication. The bottom line is that I highly recommend this book. I really enjoyed it and found it both thought provoking and entertaining. 5 Stars!

Bohdi Sanders
The Wisdom Warrior

Achieving Kicking Excellence DVD’s

by Shawn Kovacich

I have a pretty large collection of martial arts videos and DVD’s. I have seen instructional DVD’s that range from detailed kata instruction to the “secret” techniques sold from full page ads in the martial arts magazines, and I can say without reservation, that Shawn Kovacich is one of the best instructors that I have seen in my many, many hours spent viewing martial arts training. These DVD’s are exceptional!

This three volume DVD set begins with the basics, then progress to offensive applications and defensive applications. Each volume contains two high quality DVD’s and a massive amount of useful information. Most martial arts DVD’s contain a huge amount of information, but the difference between these DVD’s and many of the others, is that Kovacich’s DVD’s contain information which is practical and useful whether it is applied in a sports setting or in the streets in a life-or-death situation.

Shawn Kovacich instructs from a real-life point of view, which I believe is very important. The majority of the techniques are performed in street clothes and footwear, which is how you will be dressed if you ever need to use this information on the streets. And not only does Kovacich teach from a practical standpoint, but he is an expert at explaining things in a very straightforward, understandable way. His examples and tips are excellent, and cover everything imaginable from types of footwear and how they affect your kicks, to clothing and the fine points of each technique.

Each kick and technique is shown both in full-speed and in slow motion which enables the viewer to completely comprehend exactly what this master instructor is trying to convey. I could go on and on about these DVD’s, but for the sake of space, I will simply state that if you want to improve your kicking knowledge and ability, there is only one DVD series that I would recommend – The Achieving Kicking Excellence Series! This is easily the most impressive and complete DVD set available as far as martial arts kicks and their applications is concerned, and I think that they are very reasonably priced. I highly recommend each of these volumes! You will not be disappointed. You may also want to check out the 10 book Achieving Kicking Excellence book series. They are a perfect companion set to these DVD’s. 5 Stars!!

Bohdi Sanders
The Wisdom Warrior

The Little Black Book of Violence

by Lawrence Kane

The Little Black Book of Violence is another complete book from Lawrence Kane and Kris Wilder, two writers from whom I have come to expect no less. As with all of their books, these two martial arts authors cover their subject completely. This book should be required reading for young martial artists, as it could save them a lot of heart break and pain. This book does a great job explaining the dangers involved anytime a situation turns violent. It also delves into the mindset of the predator and how predators “size” you up as a possible victim. Great information! This is information that is useful for everyone, not just the martial artist. Other topics include weapons, the law, how to respond to different situations, and even things such as first aid…and much more.

The Little Black Book of Violence (actually it is not so little…over 300 pages) is well organized into three sections, with each section being further organized into smaller sub-sections. Each sub-section starts off with two quotes, one from Sun Tzu and the other from Musashi. If you know anything about me, you know I love quotes, so this was a bonus as far as I am concerned! Also, each section is followed by a complete summary of the section, another nice addition. The appendix has several excellent pieces which should not be overlooked as well. I especially liked the “How far am I willing to go” checklist…this was a great addition.

Overall, this book was well written, well organized, and informative. Although I could do without some of the more graphic pictures, they do drive home the point which Wilder and Kane are trying to get across to the reader. Simply put, this is another winner from Kane and Wilder, and I highly recommend it, not just for the martial artist, but for anyone who wants to be safe in a dangerous world. Impressive, complete, informative, and possibly life-saving. Read it!

Bohdi Sanders
The Wisdom Warrior

National Geographic Complete Survival Manual

by Michael S. Sweeney

Complete Survival Manual definitely covers a wide variety of survival situations and topics. I will start with the positive things about this book. First, it covers a large array of different survival terrain. It begins with two chapters on basic survival information. These first two chapters includes basic things such as building fire, edible plants, shelters, safe drinking water, etc.The first two chapter are split into:

Mind and body survival basics
Environment survival basics

Then the chapters progress into survival techniques for different terrains. The other chapters include survival techniques for:

Temperate forests
Swamps and rain forest
High mountains
Desert
Th poles and subpolar regions
Survival on the water
Home survival information
Storms and Disasters

This book also contains a very useful appendix which includes a packing check list, CPR instructions, a first aid list for injuries/illnesses, a guide to tying knots, a signal guide, a list of edible plants (with photographs, although, very small photographs), and various maps. There is also a useful index included which makes finding what you are looking for much easier. This book is also a nice size for carrying in your backpack which is s plus. On top of that, the cover is made of water-resistant material so that the book can withstand being hauled around and used in the outdoors. This is a very nice addition also. Complete Survival Manual also included an essential packing guide for each different kinds of terrain.

Now for the negatives. The information in the book is a little too general in many instances. While it covers a lot of information, it doesn’t go into a lot of detail in any one of the subjects. Also, the illustrations are very small and not high quality. Many are to the point that it is difficult to see exactly what the authors are trying to demonstrate. Being a National Geographic book, I expected the illustrations to maybe be photographs or at least of a higher quality. In all fairness, it probably has more to do with the size than the quality of the drawings though. And I do understand that this book is meant to be carried with you are the trail, so it has to be kept to a smaller size, thus the illustrations have to be smaller…but this was a bit of a drawback for me. Also, it seems very pricey at $29.95, but I am sure that has to do with the water-resistant properties of the book.

So in summary, this is a good survival book for carrying with you on the trail. This may not be the only book that you want to use to learn survival techniques, as there are other books with better illustrations, but those other books are not meant to be carried along with you. I would recommend checking out multiple books on survival, learning good survival techniques, and then have this be the book that you carry along with you for a reference guide. After all, very few of us can remember all of the information that we need to know on the trail. This is a good book and will only add to your knowledge of survival, which is never a bad thing.

Bohdi Sanders
The Wisdom Warrior

Martial Virtues: Lessons in Wisdom, Courage. and Compassion from the World’s Greatest Warriors

by Charles H. Hackney

Martial Virtues is a comprehensive look into the universal character traits of the true warrior. Dr. Hackney obviously believes, as do I, that there is much more involved in being a true warrior than simply learning specific martial arts techniques. In this book, Dr. Hackney takes an academic approach to proving his beliefs that being a true warrior involves specific character traits. As you would expect from a psychology professor, Dr. Hackney delves into specific theories from both the Western world and Eastern traditions in order to come to his conclusion that there has to be universal warrior virtues which make the true warrior who he or she truly is. He discusses theories from Plato to the Enlightenment philosophers, and from the samurai and ninja masters to Alasdair MacIntyer. His research is very impressive to say the least.

Dr. Hackney approaches the subject in the manner that a scientist would approach his science experiment. He researched the different warrior cultures from both the Western world and the Eastern world and systematically listed the martial virtues from the different warrior cultures, after which he cross-referenced his findings to see exactly which virtues these cultures had in common. In the third chapter, he list these virtues by philosophy or specific culture. You will find these lists extremely interesting if you are like me and love to explore the wisdom and character traits which compose the true warrior. As those who have read my books already know, I have argued many times that someone is not a true warrior if he or she lack the necessary character traits which truly make one a superior human being. Martial Virtues proves that warrior cultures throughout the ages have shared my belief and he proves it in a systematic way with many primary sources. Dr. Hackney’s book provides example after example which shows that throughout the ages, different warrior cultures have valued virtuous behavior and have seen this as part of the makeup of the true warrior.

Dr. Hackney list these virtues by philosophy and/or warrior culture. The lists include specific virtues from:

Greco-Roman Epic Heroism
Chivalry
Fiore Dei Liberti
American Heroism
Confucianism
Buddhism
Taoism
Yu-Hsia
Shaolin
Hwarang
Bushido
Ninpo

He then combined the overlapping virtues into six sub-categories,(Qualities of Effectiveness, Courage, Justice, Temperance, Wisdom, and Benevolence) and proceeds to expand in detail, each of these throughout the book. He also covers the importance of courtesy. This book is not easy, light reading, but rather an in-dept study on the subject, with many examples and stories which emphasizes his point that character counts. Martial Virtues contains a wonderful index which is helpful in finding specific topics or in locating one of the many insightful quotes which is included in this book. Those of you who know me or who have read my books, know that this book is right up my alley. It is well written, well organized, and a great addition to any martial arts library. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is a great book and I highly recommend it to all martial artists, police officers, and military personnel. You will not be disappointed with this book if you fall into any of those categories. Dr. Hackney is definitely someone that I would love to chat with over a cup of tea some day. His knowledge of the warrior virtues and history is very comprehensive and enlightening. 5 Stars!

Bohdi Sanders
The Wisdom Warrior