Reddit reviews Mastering Jujitsu (Mastering Martial Arts)
We found 5 Reddit comments about Mastering Jujitsu (Mastering Martial Arts). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
JUJITSUMARTIAL ARTS
Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu-Jitsu University
Renzo Gracie and John Danaher's Mastering Jujitsu
Kid Peligro's The Essential Guard
Neil Melanson's Mastering Triangle Chokes
Check out Mastering Jujitsu
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Jujitsu-Renzo-Gracie/dp/0736044043
It's more of a treatise on fighting/MMA than it is an instructional book. It bears Renzo's name but the real author was John Danaher. It's rumoured that a lot of the writing for the book was originally meant for Danaher's PhD studies at Columbia University.
The focus is BJJ, but the book is actually a pretty comprehensive overview of what combat sports have shown us about fighting over the past century. For example, there is a chapter about Jigoro Kano - the founder of judo. The book argues Kano's genius realization was that a "safe" technique that can be trained with 100% resistance will be more effective than a "killing" technique that is impossible to train.
There's a lot of insightful historical stuff like that and it continues into the present day with MMA. Since the book was published in 2003, the modern examples tend to be a little dated: Chuck Liddell is presented as the archetype of the sprawl & brawl strategy. But it's still very cogent material. The breakdown of fighting ranges is more astute than anything that was ever published in the era of mall karate and kung fu movies.
Mentions Danaher has a PhD from Columbia
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/in-the-racket-the-mystery-of-danaher
Book bio on Amazon mentioned Danaher has a PhD from Columbia
http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Jujitsu-Martial-Arts-Series/dp/0736044043
My instructor received his black belt with Danaher and constantly speaks of his philosophies on strategy and branching in Jiu Jitsu. My instructor still trains with Danaher, GSP, and other Renzo team members and was a coach for GSP and Danaher during season 10 of TUF.
Yes, I agree with OP in a sense that you are learning how to solve puzzles and through drilling and muscle memory making decisions under duress that are inline with the strategy you have planned and are attempting to implement while changing and adjusting tactics. Is Nick Diaz a scholar? No, but he does have a high fight IQ and understanding of his sport, just like an illiterate person could be a very talented musician. Just like how a chess master may have a high IQ, but low emotional or social IQ.
I think it was the intro to this:
http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Jujitsu-Martial-Arts-Series/dp/0736044043