Rating: 
Summary: Essential reading for any martial artist or business person
Review: This is not an entertaining book. This is not a story and
is not engaging. What it is is illuminating! This very
short (and frequently hard to find) collection of three letters/essays
from Takuan Soho to masters of the sword arts contains some
incredible gems. It is the kind of book that should be read
a page or even just a paragraph at a time followed by a period
of thought. The ideas of the interval between striking flint
and steel to the production of the spark, or the visual and
mental image of the glint of light on the blade of a sword
become captivating and even revelatory.If you are a martial
artist, you MUST read this book. If you are in business,
this is as essential as Musashi's Book of Five Rings.
Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for any martial artist or business person
Review: This is not an entertaining book. This is not a story andis not engaging. What it is is illuminating! This veryshort (and frequently hard to find) collection of three letters/essays from Takuan Soho to masters of the sword arts contains some incredible gems. It is the kind of book that should be read a page or even just a paragraph at a time followed by a period of thought. The ideas of the interval between striking flint and steel to the production of the spark, or the visual and mental image of the glint of light on the blade of a sword become captivating and even revelatory. If you are a martial artist, you MUST read this book. If you are in business, this is as essential as Musashi's Book of Five Rings.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential Insights into the Employer/Employee contract
Review: While this is a book of sayings by Takuan Soho, it illuminates the unspoken lifetime contract between employer (master) and employee (student). Volumes have been written about lifetime employment in Japan, but I find this small book captures the spirit of that contract which goes well beyond what I know of in the U.S. Unfortunately, this contract has slowly been perverted to gradually eliminate the obligations of the employer and today we see the virtual abandonment of this idea as Japanese companies eliminate their obligations and join the West in its brand of capitalism. Reading this book will give great insights into the modern ideas of "growing a business" and "sustainability". A must read for FastCompany magazine readers. - Donald Nordeng
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