The official Self Defence Handbook, by David Mitchell

ere is a book: The Official Self Defence Handbook, that was published in 1985 by David Mitchell for the British Martial Arts Commission (MAC). The objective? To be their official self defence handbook (duh...) David Mitchell is also the author to this book here: The Overlook Martial Arts Handbook.

None other than soke Richard M. Morris from London was the chairman to the MAC at the time. You may compare the MAC to our own, and official Martial Arts Federation here in Norway.

As a matter of fact this book is good. It deals with subjects such as awareness and avoidance, the law and self-defense (here according to British law, of course), self-defense courses, what to look for in regular self-defense training, as well as other hints and tips.

All techniques are shown with the help of great drawings - something that makes it easy to see the various moves and details. Naturally there are techniques that I would have liked to include rather than the ones being chosen here, but that's besides the point. None of the methods here are bad. I would guess that Mr. Morris has had a hand in picking a great deal of these techniques - as they are ju jitsu many of them. David Mitchell himself is a karateka.

I have no problem recommending this book to anyone - students or teachers - being interested in the subject of self-defense. Make sure you do a search at Abebooks first!

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