Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, principle-based book, December 20, 2003
There's a lot of good things to be said for this book. The author has been exposed to a handful of very different martial arts styles, and has worked as a bouncer, and so has field-tested a lot of this stuff. He emphasises principles over technique, a concept that makes the techniques actually easier to apply. The author goes into the "fight interview", which a lot of "saloon warriors" will use to determine whether or not a victim is ripe for attack. He goes through some techniques to avoid the sucker punch, which is something missing from many self-defense books. While I don't think that all of his stuff is a good idea (one of his avoidence techniques is to act crazy... but in public?), I think that it is worth looking at. The actual techniques are drawn from Wado-ryu Karate, Wing Chun and White Crane Kung Fu, Judo, Aikido, and a little boxing. He doesn't cover grappling too well, and completely avoids the subject of ground fighting, but the idea, I guess, is to make sure you never go to the ground. Any wrestling or BJJ book will teach some good reversals and escapes, and can be used to suplement this book. The overall idea of this book is that real fighting is messy and technically ugly, so it's best to have a handful of high-percentage techniques, as well as a good grasp of the principles behind them, but realize that "anyone can get their [booty] kicked". This book has valuable chapters on distancing, facing, and footwork, how to recognize a sucker punch, and choosing a martial art that's right for you. For those that practice at home, there are a number of drills included to help one function under high-stress scenarios. I'd say that for someone who's really interested in good self-defense, this book and it's system would be a good foundation, especially if you've got experiance in a "hard" style. But as I mentioned earlier, I think the program needs to be suplemented by a groundfighting/grappling program, and probably some weapons training. Overall, though, I'm glad I bought the book.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very fine; required reading in its field, August 17, 1999
The literature of martial arts and self-defense is filled with hype, and with books that fail to deliver the real goods. This gem of a book is one of the rare exceptions. Mr. Quinn is knows a great deal about how violence actually occurs. He clearly describes what you can do to avoid violence in the first place, and how to prepare for those cases where violence cannot be avoided. The first chapter, which explains the author's "stay out of prison plan" is, by itself, worth the price of the book. The book is informative, well thought out, well written, and even entertaining. Mr. Quinn is a natural story teller, and illustrates his arguments with very interesting personal anecdotes. If you've read this far, you are likely considering whether you should buy Bouncer's Guide. Yes, you should.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Techniques, drills and principles, June 7, 2004
I have mixed feelings towards this book. On the other hand, the author uses a sizeable portion of the book to teach several techniques to a reader. But then, he also discusses the fundamental principles behind the techniques. There is also discussion on the nature of combat, what works and what doesn't work in real fight, and so on. In general, I'm very suspicious towards books that try to teach the reader hand to hand combat techniques. That's because it is very hard to teach a new physical skill to a reader by just using text and pictures, without the reader having a teacher to point out the inevitable mistakes. To succeed in such task, there would be a need for huge amount of pictures, and some very detailed explanations of each portion of the technique. With some techniques, this book accomplishes the task as there may be as many as eight clear pictures on one technique, with very detailed captions and discussion in the text. But on some techniques, there may not be even a single picture, and the technique is not explained in a very detailed manner. The techniques seem very simple and realistic, but still there is a need for detailed explanation of each technique. Because of this, I think that the reader should be familiar with at least some martial art form before trying to learn these techniques, to fully understand the mechanics of each technique. There are also some drills to help you develop the skills needed for the techniques taught. The drills seem pretty simple and don't require any special equipment to carry out. The parts I like best cover the principles that form the foundation of the techniques discussed in the book, and handle the reality of fighting in general. If Quinn would have concentrated more on these sections, this book would be worth at least one extra star. However, Quinn has had trouble explaining some of the principles, and he simply states that you have to try this out with a training partner, and essentially discover the principle yourself. Quinn tells several stories on his street fights to illustrate a point. These stories may offend some readers and give an impression that Quinn is on an ego-trip. They didn't bother me, however. While I think that they were somewhat interesting to read, they were not very important additions to the book. Overall, I think that there is too much emphasis on techniques. Had the author used more pages on the reality of fighting and the principles, and less on separate techniques, this book would have been better. Still, three stars is not a bad rating.
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by Marc "Animal" MacYoung
by Marc MacYoung
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