im hutning for a good aikido book historical on "o sensei" and how he did all his amazeing things such as dodge bullets and stuff.
Pretty much any John Stevens book on Aikido is excellent.. I like Invincible Warrior because it has many photographs of o'sensei throughout his life Abundant Peace is good Training with O'Sensei as well all excellent biographies dictating his life before and after developing aikido
Sir, he did it after decades of practicing meditation and martial arts. Years, plural, of practice practice practice. John Stevens' several books and William Gleason's book will tell you how O-Sensei meditated and how he practiced his martial arts. Koichi Tohei and William Reed have books about ki development.
I think less embellishing of Ueshiba myths and more study on the actual man is the way to go . . . Stan Pranin's done some good work in this regard.
there is a similar forum on the books just not this specific as to what was sought after, as far as a book I picked up abundant peace but haven't read it. There is a brief bio of o'sensei in the spirit of aikido. Take a look at amazon.com or some other online book store and read reviews on bios about o'sensei they tend to be pretty helpful .
yeah when he was in china he said he could see a white path to where the bullet was going to go and would just move or something like that, it was pretty interesting.
A good Aikido book is one that takes the time to explore all the core compenents of the art and links them together and doesn't get all lost in mysticism and awe. It should also avoide trying to teach techniques and over praising O Sensei. Some key words and phrases in the title that will help you avoide bad books are; Bible ... Anything that claims to be a bible of this or that is desperate for sales and trys to be all thing to all people. Avoide at all costs. Ultimate ... The author is totaly biased has delusions of grandure and has no real clue about martial arts and how they can compliment and contrast with each other. Ultimate also tends to be applied to McDojo styles. Complete ... Complete implies you can master the art with nothing more than the book as your guide. I don't think books are capable of constructive critisism yet. 24 hrs ... Complex tasks regardless of what they are require repetition, trial and error to be perfected. Nothing as complex as a martial art can be taught in 24 hrs. The Masters Guide ... I'm never entierly sure if these books are for masters or written by masters. Why would a master need a guide book anyway? And wouldn't a master realise this degree of knowledge requires proper tuition and experience? I can't think of anymore right now ... It's 1:51am.
Aikdo authors that I have enjoyed immensely . . . Gaku Homma . . . Mitsugi Saotome . . . Ellis Amdur . . .
