Budo: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido

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Summary: Aikido's Founder in his own words and pictures!
Review: Another important book for anyone interested in understanding O-Sensei's Aikido. Often we find people who express deeply held opinions on what the Founder said or believed based entirely on second and third hand information. This book contains the words of O-Sensei himself along with copious pictures of the founder doing technique. Dating from the 1930's these words and pictures come from a time in which O-Sensei's Enlightenment experience had reshaped his vision of Budo. At the same time at the age of around fifty years old he was still at the peak of his physical powers so the Aikido of this time illustrates the balance between the martial and the spiritual elements of Aikido more than at any other time in its history.

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Summary: Well...
Review: I am not an aikidoka myself, but I really enjoyed this book especially the technique sequences with a younger, more flexible Ueshiba. Anyway, this book is a must for all those interested in japanese hopology or just martial history in general.

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Summary: I originally bought this for my best friend...
Review: I originally bought this for my best friend, a random gift. He use to practice Aikido when he was younger and I was hoping to get him interested in it. However the book never left my house because I read the book and decided to keep it for myself. Greedy? Sure. The book is very nice because of the way it is written. It shows poetry written by O'Sensei as well as a brief story of his life. The most interesting part however is the fact that the person who created Aikido appears in the techniques. He is, by the looks of it, in his 30s and 40s, so he does not resemble the famous old man that people reconize. The photos, for there age, are quite detailed. I recommend this for any martial artist.

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Summary: Excellent book for personal collection.
Review: Includes a short description of O-Sensei's life. This book deals mainly with the aiki-bujutsu techniques as prescribed by O-Sensei. A must for anyone who intends to explore the full combat ability of Aikido. Most techniques shown require critical study as detailed description is not available.

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Summary: trully remarkable
Review: Introduced by a detailed biography of Morihei Ueshiba, and finalized with Very good pictures of O-Sensei performing various techniques. The only words to describe the book are ones in it.

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Summary: An historical resource for the commited aikidoist.
Review: This book is valuable to the serious student of aikido in that a series of photographs during a short segment of O-Sensei's (Morihei Ueshiba's) life and practise of aikido can be analyzed. This pictures though were for a specific purpose and I think one or two of the sequences are not correctly replaced from the original work to which they belonged. For those in the aikido community who fuss over at which stage of Ueshiba's practise had the most to offer the modern aikidoist, this book only could stir up the debate. This is not a book that comes off my shelf often to look at exercises to practise, but I appreciate it in my academic approach to the art. Non-the-less, the book belongs in any library on aikido.

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Summary: Budo: Teachings from the Founder
Review: This is a book by the founder of Aikido. His own words and photos. A must for the true student of Aikido or martial arts. This book belongs in your library for historical purposes.

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Summary: Technically interesting, but not for the beginner
Review: This is a technically interesting book, with good, interesting pictures of Ueshiba's technique. The pictures are all black and white, and are all of the middle years of Ueshiba's life. Academically, this is a fairly interesting book, with a short, concise history of Ueshiba's life in the preface. It also contains some relatively rare poetry and literary instruction coupled with helpful discourse on it by the translator, John Stevens, which serves to clarify some rather mystifying esoteric principles. In terms of technique, there is a lot covered here, with good photographs of generally about two or three instances of each technique.
As i said in the title, however, this book is probably not the best for beginners: in my opinion, it's explanations of aikido philosophy and technique are overly esoteric, and can be, at times, rather overwhelming. For beginners, i would recomend "aikido and the harmony of nature" by Mitsugi Saotome, which provides a simple, easily understandable, if slightly lengthy overview on the philosophies of aikido. Technique is for learning from a master, not a book.