Hey guys. im about to get some money to buy a few good books soon and was just wandering what martial art books youve found to be the most useful when it comes to working out or practicing the martial arts. books like stretching scientifically or the art of expressing the human body. ones that help you learn more about the sciences and methodology of practicing the martial arts that are efficient for you to use. Which books have you found to best help you with this?
thanks in advance,
specter

Start with "Living The Martial Way" by Forrest Morgan.

I fopund the Tao of Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee) to be a very informative read. He gives very specific, technical information on foot work, setting up strikes, even some grappling.

A very scattered read (just a mish-mosh of his personal notes complied together), but it's almost like getting personal lessons from the man himself. Recommended.

"Scholar Warrior" By Deng Ming-Dao

yes, i would definitly agree with "living the martial way", plus hagakure and kodo by kensho furuya, they are not about the physical aspect of ma but they are good books in my opinion. train hard!

"The most USEful book"? I think I spent about $800 on books last year that touched on different aspects of my MA journey. Meditation, philosophy, history, fiction...topics ranging from 'abisheka' to 'zen'...all edifying but useful?

As a newbie interested in learning Bo, I liked 'Stick Fighting' by Masaaki Hatsumi because of the introduction to concepts of 'offline' and 'trapping', 'Jodo' by Dave Lowry and 'Bo' by Fumio Demura.

Best MA book I read

most usefull book for those about to start their journey into the mA's has got to be the Yellow pages

But those rare gems are rarely advertised

Personaly I got a very good book called Flashing Steel by some japanese dude (no offense meant i just can't find the author)*bows* anyway its a good intro and includes a synopsis of the eyes of a samurai, zanshin, and other concepts of the samurai and how to apply them. It also gives amazingly detailed waza demonstrations. That book is my quick edu. in iaido.

Training and Fighting skills by Benny Urquidez. Very detailed info about every aspect of fighting except for groundwork. He shows a lot of different footwork, counters, blocks, evasions, combos, stretches, bodyweight excercises, and tells a lot of info about his numerous fights. All my best combinations came from this book.

Right on!

I ENJOYED this book when I first got it in 1982 and I still re-read it from time to time. one can buy it at Amazon.com starting at from $1.75

Humbly posted,
Devin Willis