Customer Reviews

Knights Of Darkness: Secrets Of The World's Deadliest Night Fighters

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With some guilt I feel bad writing a poor review for an author who cannot defend themselves online. Mr. Lung please dont take this personal--just work harder.

Whomever wrote the 5 star reviews...I would question how authentic your so called military backgrounds are. Overly positive reviews on marginal information puts a novice into harms way, please contain your glee at having an open forum to have your name reviewed as a serious intellectual.

I feel this book was written for high school boys with aspirations to be secret ninja turtles or cia operatives.
Although there were a few pages of SUPER interesting history regarding various organizations, 90% of the book was written at I believe a junior high level of sophistication and the supporting proof of his references seems to be sorely lacking.

BALANCE................

To be fair, another newer book by Mr. Lung was absolutley fantastic though..MIND MANIPULATION........Without hesitation I could recommend that work by Mr. Lung. Mind Manipulation isn't hocus pocus mystical asian stuff, it is sound, well researched and applies not only to battle situations, business dealings, political propaganda and also to martial arts of any style.
Kudos on that work. Should be a must for anyones collection.
Mind Manipulation

This is the first book I've read by this author but not the first book of this kind I've read. I found Knights of Darkness to be quite engaging. The historical aspects of the book are quite good without being annoying. The author provides a healthy dose of history without making it a history book. Likewise, he provides a great deal of practical (or should I say "tactical"?) information which I found to be useful to someone in those kinds of endeavors. Along with this information, he also gives historical proof of it's effectiveness.

I was especially impressed by the section on developing your senses, as this is not the first time I've read this type of information. Several other books I've read mention the necessity, and advantage, of developing your senses. I am personally taking this to heart. After all, having better developed senses should benefit in all areas of life.

Mention has been made of the simplicity of this book. In defense of the author, the majority of people write on a third-grade level and read on a level not much higher. In an effort to reach the majority of readers, an author shouldn't write on a level challenging to college students. "Write simple, write for the masses."

I was also impressed with the author's inclusion of criminal organizations. Many authors would find including criminals as a "good example" to be distasteful. However, criminal organizations often use methods to achieve their goals which are wholly applicable to the topic of the book. As the author states, "If a tactic, technique, or training method works, use it, no matter what its origins. In other words, whatever gets you through the night."

In conclusion, I found this to be a very interesting and informative book. I would recommend it to anyone seeking information in this field.

This could be the manual for special forces operators on night fighting. I found this book to be an easy read, it is clearly illustrated and historically accurate. This 'how to' book is a comprehensive text, covering night fighting from the ninja to the modern day night fighters of the world's special forces. This eye-opening book will not leave you in the dark.

---UPDATED REVIEW 17DEC11---

I still maintain a 5-star review on this enlightening historical look at night fighters past and present. This book does a good job at explaining rudimentary and primitive techniques of stealth, concealment, observation and awareness. It does not have all the answers and covers some topics briefly, but provides a good overview. This is not meant to be a collage thesis or academic reference but an interesting and laidback primer on the skills of history's past night fighters. If this book interests you I would look into getting some of the following books;

"Shadows of Darkness: Secrets of the Night Fighter" by Sid Campbell. This book is similar to "Knights of Darkness" in its depth and techniques covered. But still and interesting and entertaining read.

"Own the Night: Selection and Use of Tactical Lights and Laser Sights" by Scott W. Wagner. I did a full review of this book on Amazon. This book is OK but is predominantly a "catalog" of night fighting enhancement equipment (lights, lasers, etc.).

"Fight At Night: Tools, Techniques, Tactics, and Training for Combat In Low Light and Darkness" by Andy Stanford. This is one of the benchmark references on fighting in limited-visibility; some of the material is now dated but is still the best modern text available.

"Night Fighter's Handbook" by Dennis J. Popp. This book is formatted like an Army field manual and is chockfull of excellent tactics, techniques and procedures on military night fighting operations.

"Rule the Night, Win the Fight" by Ed Santos. This book is on par with "Fight at Night" with current information as it is one of the most resent published books on night fighting.

I think the above books will do a good job at making you a well-informed individual on the topic of night fighting.

This book was written in the format of a childrens book. The tips were useless, and it was all coupled with horrible, crudely drawn illustrations. The tips went something like, "When walking along a wall with vertical lines, walk vertically. When walking along a wall with horizontal lines, crouch and walk." This book was very basic, and even the chapters on histories night fighters weren't enjoyable.

Oh yeah. This book is word for word (I kid you not) the same as "Street Ninja" by Dirk Skinner, which is also a very useless book. I don't know if Dirk used a psuedonym for this book, so that he could advertise in it or what, but avoid both of these books at all costs, unless you plan to star in a movie with three little kids and Mr. Miagi.

In order to establish credentials, I will tell a bit about myself:

I have studied Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for about 6 years and have read just about every book on the subject of Ninjutsu in the English language. To be fair this is one of the only books on the subject that actually detail stealth techniques. I do not know where the author obtained some of his information, however, almost all of the ninja history in this book is completely false (with the exception of a couple techniques- Yoko Aruki, side stepping; and Zasagashi no Jutsu, balancing the scabbard on the tip of the sword). That being said, Ninja now only exist in a historical context, so applying Ninjutsu to modern stealth techniques is not as effective as using up to date techniques.

If you wish to learn authentic ninja stealth techniques, I would recommend the works of Antony Cummins (True Path of the Ninja; and True Ninja Traditions). These books are translations of authentic documents from the Edo Period.

Now on to my second topic: Special Operations Techniques. I am a US Marine and have training in Covert Entry, Reconnaissance and Surveillance, and Human Intelligence Operations. Most of the "military' information is also preposterous. The author seriously recommends using weapons such as blowguns and throwing spears. He shows techniques for moving across a white fence while dressed entirely in black, apparently disregarding silhouette, thinking that standing upright and sliding along it will allow you remain undetected. I could go on and on about the lack of effective techniques that this book holds. Any special operations team using these techniques would probably be killed.

If you seriously want to learn covert entry and stealth techniques, I would suggest physical security and locksmithing books (this book has no lock-picking or alarm bypass which is the main part of covert entry). Good books to have would be "Unauthorized Access", "Locks, Safes, and Security", "No Tech Hacking", and other books about Penetration Testing. Good places to look for camouflage and stealth movement tactics would be any military patrolling manual or sniper manual.

Excellent historical biography of special operational units and how the conceptual operation of each are related. Most interesting is how the beginning began in china.

Knights of Darkness is probably one of the most informational books on the subject of night operations I have ever come across. The book is divided into two parts. The first part is entitled "Masters of the Game" and goes on to discuss special operations-like groups throughout history who have used the cover of darkness to their advantage in the eastern and western hemispheres, more modern groups like the Green Berets, and even criminal usage (I was happy that the chapter on criminal usage was included. This is an angle not normally displayed).

The second part of the book is entitled "Mastering the Game" and goes into the meat and potatoes of night operations techniques. From developing the proper mindset and utilizing all of your senses in harmony to methods of movement, reconnaissance and tools of the trade, this book covers a decent amount of information over just less than two hundred pages. The book is well laid out and easy to read. It gets corny at times. But this does not take away from the information being delivered. The pictures are crude and could be better, but what they are trying to portray is still easily understood.

My only issue with this book is it should have been longer and MUCH more in depth than what it was. It came off as too basic. It should have gone into more detail with the history of the night operatives and added historical references when the utilization of night techniques were used in achieving success on a recon mission, raid or the like. It also should have went into more detail in the second half of the book. More techniques should have been added and the ones that were in the book should have been more descriptive. The refinements would make this book the "bible" on night operations. It is my greatest hope that Dr. Lung capitalizes on them and unleashes this book's potential to be an outstanding read.

Whether you are an operative who has used these techniques in your line of work or just a person who enjoys reading about the techniques used by operatives of this nature, this book is right up your alley. Just make sure to travel down it during day hours.

This book is elementary reading(as stated in another review) but to someone that doesn't know a lot about these techniques, like myself, will find this book very informative indeed. This book involves rural and urban areas of infiltration technique. It involves countermeasures against detection. Gives you tactics on how to deceit the "guarding" dog and security personnel alike.It goes into everything from barbed wire fences to seismic detection cables ran under obstacles. How about foot stepping for stealth? Disappearing in shadows? Ingress and regress technique rules? Meditation techniques before the infiltration? YES! YES! YES! I am telling you this book is loaded with up-to-date tactics. I may be a beginner but I know a knowledgeable book when I read one. Detail is the ultimate success in this book. Easy reading and with practice, like everything else, easy learning!! GOING SOLO OR IN A TEAM. I am very satisfied with my purchase. Buy it! I honestly don't believe you will regret it. I am reading it for my 2nd. time through. There is also some history in it by the way to top it off. I hope you find this review helpful.

This is one of my favorite technical manuals I own. There are very few books I have found that focus on actual sneaking around. Instead of being like a military manual, it shows methods that even a single operator could utilize. Also focused on historical night fighters and time-tested methods, including ninja and middle eastern assassins. I'll have to admit the illustrations aren't that great, but they are adequate enough to get the point across. Unlike other books, you can tell that this one does not "hold back" information that some people would disagree against others being allowed to learn.

I have studied Ninjutsu for seven years now, and no I don't think I am a master, but I ordered this book and once I read it I felt that if I was to go on a night mission I would be totally prepared.