Book Review: My Ninjas: Choosing a Martial Arts School by Nick Roberts

Learning a martial art has long been one of those things on my To Do list, partly for exercise and partly for self defence, but I'm afraid it's one of those things that I've never quite got round to doing (yet) One of the reasons - not knowing where to start. This short book is a guide to finding a suitable school, written by a martial artist who has around 18mths experience and so has the beginners experience fresh in his mind. The book is available from Smashwords and the description reads: "Many people dream about learning martial arts. When they finally take the plunge, they often jump in blindly, without being able to articulate exactly what they hope to get out of their training. This book helps students clarify their own training goals while providing objective ways to evaluate schools and questions for potential teachers."

I found a lot of useful information in the book, such as the difference between self defence and martial arts training and it made me think about the sort of school and teaching methods I would personally be comfortable with. In fact more than making me think about it I came away with some definite ideas about what questions I should ask and what I should be looking for should I ever manage to get my backside into gear. Some of the topics covered would never have crossed my mind so it was a bit of an education.

I think I would have found it even more helpful if perhaps the lineage section had included details of the main styles in groups with information their key features, so I could narrow my search for schools knowing I would rather pursue one style over the others. A brief glossary would also be very handy.

If you are thinking of starting out in martial arts I think you could find this book very handy indeed. I feel a bit mean only giving it 3* but that is more reflective of the fact it's a non-fiction guide than the quality of the book itself.

Format: Kindle, review copy
My Rating: 3*