Hello all.

I have a friend who has started BJJ. His birthday is coming up soon, and I want to get him a book to help him study. Basically, any easy to follow technical books (ideally at beginner level).

The gym he trains at has an "open mat" class, meaning that people show up and work on whatever they want, there is no coaching as such. So a book would be great as it would give him some stuff to work on at this class.

Thanks for any suggestions.

P.S. DVD's are possible, but I don't think he has a portable player, so bringing the DVD to class to use as a learning tool would be difficult. A book would be better I think.

Thanks!

BJ Penn's book of MMA knowledge.

Brazilian Jujitsu Theory and Techniques by Royler Gracie.

Encyclopedia of Brazilian Jujitsu by Rigan Machado.

If I had to choose just one, I would probably go with the Encyclopedia of Brazilian Jujitsu, but they are all worth the money.

Thanks Matt I checked them out, they all look pretty good. Amazon recommended another book called "Jiu-jitsu University" by Saulo Ribeiro and Kevin Howell, anyone read it?

This is probably way too late but...

Jiujitsu University is actually my favorite book on BJJ. It is the most logically organized and presents a great curriculum, especially if your friend is interested in learning how to survive on the ground, rather than win a competition.

--Chris

A few days ago, I stumbled across a good set of recommendations on Aesopian's Blog.

http://www.aesopian.com/1507/a-guide-to-bjj-books-for-white-belts/#comments

Jiu Jitsu University is phenomenal, I can't recommend it enough. He teaches some slightly unorthodox techniques that you don't see too often at most BJJ schools but it's all very effective and he hits everything you can think of. Also, Big Nog's guard book for mma is excellent, it's geared for mma but the techniques and concepts apply to pure BJJ as well.