[.ca] Master of the Blade: Secrets of the Deadly Art of Knife ... (ISBN 1581605641)

This is the Knife fighting Bible:
Richard Ryan is an excellent martial artist. This book goes over everything that is needed to know in order to come out of a violent encounter. Ryan's writing skills are excellent and he clearly explains the intricate details that make up his impressive combat system. A must have for any serious martial artist

OUTSTANDING ILLUSTRATIONS!:
Mister Ryan has compiled quite a book here. The information is accurate, the techniques are viable, and the illustrations are incredible. Ryan is a gifted artist, and the pen & ink cartoons he has drawn are like nothing I have seen in any other martial arts text. Furthermore, he has utilized movie FX in some of the still photography -- the use of a "cut-out" blade in two different shots brutally illustrate a large knife sunk deep into an opponent's neck and arm, and digital imaging on a third photo graphically shows a blade literally "fileting" a man's forearm! ...There are only a couple of minor criticisms which prevented me from giving this fine book 5 stars. First, although I agree completely with Mister Ryan's assessment of the realistic combat effectiveness of commercialized martial arts -- as well as the unsubstantiated claims of their unblooded "masters" -- he seriously dissed Master-at-Arms James Keating, who everyone knows has paid his dues and learned his art the hard way. True, many alleged knife-fighters are nothing more than poseurs, but Keating is a serious piece of work whose skill with the blade is legendary -- show the man some respect. Secondly, among Ryan's selection of "advanced cuts" -- a couple of which had never seen print before -- was some silliness he calls a "dicing cut," in which one uses one's blade as if it were a kitchen chopper to "slice to ribbons" the forearm of an opponent who grabs one's shirtfront! In theory this sounds nice, but in reality no-one is going to stand there and let you carve on him without doing something to interfere with the effectiveness of this alleged "technique!"...

quite a good read; informative too:
This book was a pleasure to read, as well as containing quite a bit of good info. Is it the end-all and be-all of knife fighting? Of course not; no book or video is. They all have their good and silly points, but overall this one made pretty good sense. Another reviewer said they didn't like how this book "seriously dissed" James Keating. First of all, the name was never mentioned. Second of all, the big critique was against the practice of carrying big, fixed bladed knives and, come on, unless you want to break the law, or have a concealed carry permit for a large knife, are you really going to have one on you when you need it? And seriously, if you're going to break the law, why not carry a gun? And third, how many martial arts books has this reviewer read? They ALL pretty much say theat their system is the best; it's clled MARKETING, people. But, in the end, this book was fun to read, had many good points(pun intended), and is the equal of any of the other books on knife combat I have read. Enjoy.

Interesting, but not very useful:
This book is interesting, but in general, very poorly written. The author comes across as an overblown windbag (not an uncommon occurrence for this type of book). The techniques described are reasonable, if not earth-shattering. Anyone interested in more than an academic understanding of knife-fighting would be well served to put the book down and start training. The most annoying thing about this book was the very poor quality of the writing and the editing. There are literally hundreds of instances of factually incorrect statements, grammatical errors, and misspellings. It was very difficult to take the author seriously when so many blatant errors made it into the book. Not a book I'd recommend.

Badmouthing...:
I haven't read this book and I don't plan on it. A previous review stated that Richard Ryan "seriously dissed Master-at-Arms James Keating". This is not a good sign of a real martial artist. I have personally trained with James Keating. He has been trained in Kali, Jeet Kune Do, a traditional Karate system (the name escapes me right now), and has developed his own Combat Technologies system. Anyone who badmouths a martial artist with so much talent, dedication, and recognition from other well known martial artists is most likely a hack trying to get his name out thereby playing the politics game. He may have some good information, but there are also guys with good information and some tact to go with it. Instead of buying this, get a book or video from someone else.