Mike Casto has put forth some ideas and concepts,in this book,how to think outside the box.There are not many in the martial arts world who dare venture outside of tradition,Bruce Lee and Helio Gracie come to mind,now,Mike Casto dares to join this elite group.Great book

I especially liked the chapters on forms and the meaning of a black belt. Mike ignores all the silly controversy about these issues and gets right to the meat of the issue with thought-provoking observations.

I got a little bogged down in the sections with photos and demonstrated techniques. There was nothing wrong with them, but elsewhere in the book the idea seemed to be to think outside the box and forget specific styles, as in the section on using flexible weapons. When he got down to specific techniques it blunted that challenge a bit.

But that's a nitpick. Technically the book was very solid; Mike's a good writer and a lot of these kinds of books are terribly written. Refreshing to see one written by someone who can actually string two sentences together coherently.