BOOKWORM...

"In China there was once a man who liked pictures of dragons, and his clothing and furnishings were all designed accordingly. His deep affection for dragons was brought to the attention of the dragon god, and one day a real dragon appeared before his window. It is said that he died of fright. He was probably a man who always spoke big words but acted differently when facing the real thing" - Hagakure

As i've mentioned before i'm something of a "bookish" nerd.
I read a lot and I find a lot of my inspiration and motivation comes from books, magazines, blogs, forums etc.
I've been fascinated with martial arts, history, martial cultures and particularly the history of Duelling for years.
I always did badly in History class in school becuase i was no good with dates and numbers. History to me came alive with people and stories. I'll never be a "knowledge" on any of this stuff because i never retain all the numbers...but i can tell you some awesome stories..

I chose the quote from the Hagakure above because i feel for a large part of my life it summed me up. I read about people doing amazing things and never did anything myself.
For a while i even went so far as to write for a UK Martial Arts magazine. Actually interviewing exciting people..while still doing nothing exciting myself!
But this isn't going to be one of those "he put down the book and picked up the sword" kind of journeys either.
I read a lot as part of my job, i read on my lunch break, i read when i get home at night and more often than not i read before going to bed to unwind.
But i also read before training...

I'm going to do a "bookworm" post every now and then. Tell you what i'm reading, what's inspiring me at the moment and why.
I don't know if it'll be particularly of interest to many people, but i think it's important to mention that it's a genuine part of my training.

So, i guess i'll kick this off with "By the Sword" by Richard Cohen.
By the Sword is a book i read pretty much constantly. I've read and re-read this book dozens of times. I'll finish other books and put them on the shelf but this book is always kicking around.
I bought Lynn a copy of this book as a thank you present for letting me and my crew hang out at Cold Steel.
Lynn has the largest collection of books i have ever seen outside a library. He's a true collector of anything and everything to do with martial arts, weapons and fighting techniques. This book was right up his street.
By the Sword chronicles a history of sword fighting. From Samurai to modern Olympic fencers...
It's by no means definitive, but it is exceptionally well written.
This isn't a review. I'm not going to go into epic detail about it. This isn't that sort of blog.
But this book is incredibly special to me.
It rocks.