Krav Maga: Real World Solutions to Real World Violence by Gershon Keren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a comprehensive guide to the Krav Maga Yashir style of Krav Maga. The fact that there are multiple styles of Krav Maga was news to me. Yashir means “straight” or “direct” and this system was founded by the book’s author, Gershon Ben Keren, drawing heavily upon Imi Lichtenfeld’s original program, but modified to make it relevant for a modern, civilian practitioner. (To offer an example of said modification, Lichtenfeld’s system presumed that the fighter was an infantryman with a pack on his back, and so the original Krav Maga avoided movements that would be hazardous when so loaded down, but that are feasible for the average civilian on the street.) The author has a scholarly background in the psychology of violence, and emphasis on the realities of violence is a recurring theme.
The book follows a typical format for martial arts books. The early pages discuss the philosophy and approach of the system in detail. The book then proceeds to discuss basics such as stance and the fundamentals of punching and kicking. Finally, it delves into progressively more challenging self-defense scenarios (unarmed, armed, multiple attacker, and from various directions) and the counters that the system offers.
The book succeeds in its objectives. The photographs are well-done and provide the requisite clarity. One particularly nice feature is that the scenario photographs are taken in realistic settings so as to reinforce the importance of recognizing and using one’s environment. Key concepts are reiterated throughout so as to facilitate learning. The organization is systematic and builds logically through progressively more challenging situations.
The biggest criticism is of some of the book’s repetitiveness. Repetitiveness is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be an important tool for learning, particularly with ideas that need to be thoroughly ingrained—e.g. self-defense concepts. However, some of the repetition in this book is more wasteful than beneficial. The scenario sections feature a textual description of the attack / defense event, and then there’re captioned photos that visually portray how the scenario plays out. The captions repeat much of the text, and they do it so close to the original text that it’s hard to imagine it being much more than an annoyance.
I’d recommend this book for someone who is considering whether to take Krav Maga classes, or for martial artists looking for insight in to the nature of this system. It has some sound general advice on self-defense that those interested in that topic might find useful.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 
![Amazon page](http://<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25431254-imi-lichtenfeld---the-grand-master-of-krav-maga" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Imi Lichtenfeld - The Grand Master of Krav Maga" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1430055262m/25431254.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25431254-imi-lichtenfeld---the-grand-master-of-krav-maga">Imi Lichtenfeld - The Grand Master of Krav Maga</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13854671.Gaetano_Lo_Presti">Gaetano Lo Presti</a><br/> My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1270463028">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /> I bought this book because it’s the only English language biography of Imi Lichtenfeld (a.k.a. Imrich Sde-Or) that I could find, and by all accounts the man led a fascinating life. Lichtenfeld is most famous for founding the Israeli martial art known as Krav Maga. For those unfamiliar, Krav Maga is a self-defense system that prides itself on using as much of the human body’s natural instinct as possible in defense. It eschews the fancy and unrealistic techniques widely found in martial arts in favor of simple and direct tactics. However, it’s not the founding of Krav Maga that makes Lichtenfeld’s life so intriguing. (Believe me, there are plenty of founders of martial arts whose lives would less than engrossing reads.) Lictenfeld was also a Holocaust survivor / resistance fighter, a circus performer, and a skilled athlete.<br><br>The good news for biographers is that there is still plenty of room for a bestselling biography of this man. There are two major problems with this book. I should point out that both problems result from the fact that this book is written by an apparently dedicated student of Krav Maga, and not by a professional writer, a biographer, or a master of creative nonfiction. I suspect the author did as good a job as he could, given that a proper primary source-based biography would take over a person’s life, is an art and science that must be learned, and—unfortunately—a lot of sources are now deceased / destroyed. <br><br>Anyway, back to the problems: First, it’s a translation that seems to have been done without the help of a translator or editor with native English competency. In fact, some of it reads like it was put through Babel Fish or Google Translate. As far as I know, the original Italian edition maybe a brilliantly written, if brief, biographical outline of Lictenfeld’s life. Second, the book is an outline of Lichtenfeld’s life, and it doesn’t offer enough detail to give the reader the visceral reading experience that learning about this man’s life should have been. There’s no in-depth research of the dramatic events in which Lichtenfeld was involved. Contrary to popular advice on writing, the author tells--not shows.<br><br>The book is actually a short biographical sketch of Lichtenfeld, followed by what might be considered a “biography” of Krav Maga, and that is followed by bio-blurbs of some of the more well-regarded students of Lichtenfeld. <br><br>On the positive side, the book is a cheap and quick read. It will give one some insight into Lichtenfeld, but—I fear—will leave many readers with a craving to know more. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who wants a biography of Lichtenfeld, but, if you’re looking for a biographical sketch or are interested in the lives of prominent martial artists, it will probably serve your purpose.<br> <br/><br/> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6423134-bernie-gourley">View all my reviews</a>){kind=link}