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On my way home I stopped at the bookstore just to satisfy my curiosity about the "Aikido Tips and Tactics" book. It seems to be a series of books, since I also saw "Taekwondo Tips and Tactics," by the same publisher, and using the same cluttered format.
The author, Grandmaster Bennett (10th dan), founded his own aikido style where the techniques seem to be performed with almost no footwork or movement of the center. Just grab the wrist and do kotegaeshi or sankyo.
I am in no place to pass judgement on the people who train this art. That would be wrong. But looking at the fatal mistakes they make (from a martial art's point of view) I cannot help feeling sorry for them.
And you were right, Erik, the book is that bad. And a lengthy one too! For example, they could omit all the irrelevant information about samurai history and weightlifting (with pictures) and write something about the person known as O'Sensei. I find it disturbing that someone might pick up this book and think is aikido.
Anyway, after browsing through that book, in order to forget the whole thing I had to look at a real aikido book, so I grabbed a wonderful little book called "Aikido for Kids" (Santoro) --I read the whole book and I thought it was great!
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