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Summary: THE BEST BOOK ON AIKIDO I'VE EVER READ!!!!
Review: I've been in the martial arts for 20 years and in Aikido for 5 years. In that time I've read a lot books on the martial arts and over the last 5 years I've read several Aikido books. Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere is by far the best I've ever read. It is a down to earth, nuts and bolts look at the art of Aikido. Other books are too congested with difficult to follow philosophy and spirituality. This book,however, is full of useful information for both beginners and advanced students alike. I WISH THERE WERE MORE BOOKS LIKE IT!!!
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Summary: Aikido is much more than a physical art --amazing
Review: The world of martial arts can often be confusing. There is a spiritual aspect that is often hinted at, but when the practice invloves techniques for bone-breaking and face smashing....well.... Then there's Aikido. And the quality of this book in explaining the concepts of attack, the sphere of defense and the philosophical standpoint of Aikido is impressive. It goes beyond just Aikido and provides a deep understanding of what a martial art can be (not just crunchy-bones!). However, Aikido is obviously what it addresses and it does so amazingly well. It's worth the price for Part V alone! To boot...it has excellent inllustrations, and is printed on high-quality paper that smells good! ooooo----you should buy this book.
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Summary: Beautiful
Review: written by two of the early practicioners of Aikido in America, this book is extremely interesting not only for the artwork, which is truly superb, but by the technical context in which it explains Aikido.This book isn't a detailed technical manual, however it is a good historical document. The sytemic breakdown of techniques is a bit dry, esp. given that it foregoes the japanese names for techniques in favor a numbered approach. but the artwork.. truly fantastic
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Summary: An excellent Aikido book
Review: I have been enamored with the marital arts for most of my life. When I was younger, I didn't have any opportunity to practice an art, but I read voraciously about them. I first looked through this book when I was about 12 years old. The pictures stayed with me for a long time, especially the graphical discussion of the ethics of combat, even as the subject dimmed in my memory. 10 years later, when I began practicing Aikido, I was thrilled to find that I had been practicing the art that this book was describing - it was like stumbling across an old friend. Now I have been practicing Aikido for about 10 years, and I still find myself returning to this book - reading, re-reading, and pondering sections. I would recommend this book for any serious student of Aikido.
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Summary: Wow..!
Review: As an Aikido "newbie", who joined and left various Aikido Dojos for a few good years now ... I found this book to be an EXCELLENT source about Aikido. It covers EVERYTHING new students would want to know, plus ALMOST everything a veteran would like to know (Aikido, after all, has a LOT of variations and moves..). It covers the philosophy of Aikido, the History of Aikido, the etiquette of Aikido, and of course, the Art itself. The whole book is full with -lovely- illustrations that are great to look at, especially at all the techniques covered in this book. Anyhow, I've done some research before purchasing this book, and I firmly believe this is one of the greatest, if not the best, books you can read about Aikido.
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Summary: Great book with lots of info, but.....
Review: I really enjoy reading this book. Note the present tense here, as this is a book I often pick up and re-read sections of. The first time I read part of it a few years ago, I found it very 'academic' and thought it difficult to understand, but that was before I began to practice aikido. Since them, I still find it a little 'bookish', but now have some physical experience to match with what the authors were attempting to describe. I think that this is one of the only books that attempts to systematize aikido training, or at least systematize some of the various techniques used in aikido. It provides a great under-pinning to ones mat-work by putting a bit of theoretical base and structure to what you learn while on the mat. I only gave this a 3-star because I think it could do with a bit of spruce-up given that it has been over 20 years since it was first published, and much has happened in the world of aikido since then. This is definitely not a work that a beginner will get much out of at first, but should be part of any serious practitioner's collection!
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Summary: Detailed and exciting book!
Review: I recently had the pleasure of stumbling into Aikido. Everything at first was overwhelming and I found it difficult to grasp some of the concepts. After a bit of searching, I came across this book. It details all the major concepts behind Aikido in plain English with excellent illustrations. Center, unified power of attack, and other elements that everyone should know are in here. The latter part of the book illustrates and explains all of the major techniques in Aikido. If I were to do it again, I'd buy the book for the illustrations alone; they are awesome. Plainly stated, this is the definitive textbook for Aikido. It's excellent for the beginner or the advanced student looking for further explanation. It answered the majority of my questions and helped me feel more confident on the mat. Buy it. It's not going to disappoint.
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Summary: Why would 'discipline of coordination' be capitalized?
Review: Last month I started aikido lessons at age 30, with no previous martial arts experience whatsoever. I chose aikido because of its pacifist nature, which I learned about, albeit superficially, while doing a little bit of internet research. It didn't hurt that the dojo was in walking distance from my apartment. When I stepped into my first class, though, I felt like I was drowning, figuratively. The senior students were throwing around Japanese phrases left and right, and I was embarrassingly ignorant about the rituals. And there are lots of rituals. Believe me. I decided after my first class that I needed a book that would 1) explain the basics of each exercise, 2) have a glossary of Japanese terms used in aikido, and, most importantly, 3) describe the rituals in a typical aikido class and what they're all about. This book has all these things. It turned out to be an ideal supplement to what I'm learning in class. The only thing that prevents me from giving this book five stars, however, is that the, um, excessive style of writing is irritating at points. An example: "The practice then is the way along which a man can proceed from the basic, utilitarian consideration of learning an efficient means of self-defense which will follow certain ethical guidelines, to the 'high country' where the art becomes a Discipline of Coordination [sic] aimed at the harmonizing of opposites or alternates- not an art bent on or resulting in destruction, individual or wholesale." Quickly, someone, take away that man's thesaurus...
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Summary: Beginners book!!
Review: This book is a very easy read book. It is easy to read and easy to understand! Many martial art books are often written so that "normal" people woulden't understand the true meaning. In this book everybody can understand! This book is very direct and full of facts about Aikido.
Well it is a beginners book with a lot of useful information. So if you are about to start your Aikido training or has just begun, this book is it!!
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Summary: Excellent Choice!
Review: This book is greatly detailed on the art of Aikido. It makes a great reference book for those who already study the art, and very informative for those who don't.
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