Rating: 
Summary: Lots of techniques, IF YOU CAN FIGURE THEM OUT!!
Review: As any serious student of martial arts will tell you, the difference between an effective technique and a useless one may be as little as 1/2" in the placement of your hand for a hold or lock. While this book shows many worthwhile techniques, the illustrations are totally useless when it comes to hand placement and, often, choice of hand. Close ups are sorely nonexistant. Unfortunately, the text explainations do NOTHING to help. The experienced martial artist MAY be able to figure these nuances out, but why buy a book to begin with if you end up having to figure the hand placements out for yourself? A novice or even an intermediate student will simply throw this book into the garbage after getting frustrated. There is nothing more unconscionable and disingenuous than a book that purports to want to teach you something and then proceeds to provide pictures and explanations that cannot be understood or comprehended. Talk about "approach-avoidance syndrome"!! AVOID this book BEFORE you get enticed into APPROACHING it's purchase.
Rating:
Summary: The book is junk and Echanis was a boob
Review: Following what is taught in this book is a great way to get killed. People who say this book is effective may have dojo training, but have NEVER encountered a real knife attack.Personally I could overlook Echanis's personal history if the book were OK - but it just isn't. Ice pick grip decreases your distance by about 2 inches. Someone with a saber grip and 3 or 4 arnis classes will slice open the arteries in your arms in short fashion. Sacrificing your lead hand is great if you want to bleed to death. An arterial cut to the wrist can kill you in 30 seconds to a couple of minutes. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Rating:
Summary: Hands up!
Review: I do agree with MCURIE, I find the value of this book pretty limited, although I do understand it had not been thought for beginners. At a half of the presented knife attacks the opponent uses ice-pick grip! Not a single eye-poking defence! A lot of wrist grip and leverage techniques, which are effective if you are really much more skilled than the attacker and on the other hand many defences against dumbos who aproach you from behind and press the knive against your back like guns in the old detective movies used to be put, without even holding your collar! (Seems that a "hands up" command is lacking.)
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Supplement to knife defenses
Review: If you are interested in supplimenting your current knowledge with some good knife defenses then get this book. Mr. Echanis not only provides practical techniques that are useful in street situations, but he also does so in a clear, concise manner. I highly recommend this book if you expect to be faced by a person wielding a knife.
Rating: 
Summary: Not too bad
Review: IN MEMORY OF MARIO PONTILLO
Since the late 1970's, I have studied Mr. Lee's "Way of the Intercepting fist." This book is not too bad if you want to learn defense against a knife. I read it last over 20 years ago. Mine is 1st edition 1977. It's Mario's book. Please don't hesitate to check out my book that I published while in the U.S. Navy in 2003:
"Under the Rose: Poetry of Tragedy, Essence, and Romance"
Rating:
Summary: Effective counter-knife combtives
Review: Like his stick fighting book,this is an excellent read as well.The techniques shown are brutally effective and easy to learn.Had this not been the case,Mr.Echanis would have never been
selected to train hand-tohand instructors for the Special Ops
community.
Rating:
Summary: Deadly. Incapacitating. And that's for the defender :-P
Review: Like the other Echanis books this stuff is deadly, for the poor sap who actually tries to use it. The techniques are inefficient, rely on strength, assume the other guy is an idiot moving at the speed of molasses, and put you in a lot of danger. They also violate really basic, and I mean BASIC principles of self defense. Several of them get the attacker in trouble. And then let him out. Others make contact and take control. And then give up both. There are, G-d help us, pictures of him kicking the knife out of the attacker's hand and others where he exposes things most of us REALLY don't want cut to the blade. Save your money. Take a decent course in the Southeast Asian martial arts. Buy Fairbairn or Applegate's books. Learn some police combatives. Get a gun. But if you want to survive an armed attacker DON'T BUY THIS GUY'S BOOKS.
Rating:
Summary: Knife self defense for combat, not for the general public!
Review: Mr. Echanis book,"Knife self-defense for combat", is not intended for the general public.His audience is intended for those who have already a high degree of self defence and weapons training. In fact he states this on the first page. With this in mind Mr. Echanis does a superb job in demonstrating his skill in the art of hand to hand combat against an armed assailant.One can learn a great deal from this book,if they are experienced practitioners. Mr. Echanis progressed to a high degree in the art of Hwarangdo, his untimely death was a loss for all those who appreciated his expertise.
Rating:
Summary: Hands up!
Review: My first impression of this book was "If these are Special Forces knife skills, then I seriously hope they never run out of ammo." Too much using your various body parts to block cuts, and no consideration of the your apponent's left hand might be doing while you tango with him. Get something else.
Rating:
Summary: Skip this one.
Review: My first impression of this book was "If these are Special Forces knife skills, then I seriously hope they never run out of ammo." Too much using your various body parts to block cuts, and no consideration of the your apponent's left hand might be doing while you tango with him. Get something else.
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