Abrazare

Last time I went to Eugene (March 13^th), Sean and I spent almost the entire time working through the  abrazare and dagger sections, cross-checking images and text between the Getty and the PD. We ran through them at an easy pace and starting from a collar-and-elbow (C&E) setup. We do about half our abrazare drills from the C&E and the other half by having the player enter into measure. I really prefer to start people off from the C&E because it is simpler; static, clearly defined hand positions, etc. Also, it really is a fairly common position to come to while wrestling. Later on, you can add coming into measure to the drill, remembering (and reminding your students) that it will not look the same as it does on the page or as it did during the C&E drill – as the Man says, grapples are seldom identical, it is important to learn to flow with what you have/are being presented.  This run-through of abrazare was really good because it helped solidify in my mind the principles that are represented by each play.

As an aside, because this opinion is out there, I don't believe that all of the plays shown are supposed to flow one-into-another. Instead, the plays are there to illustrate principles – while some may flow into each other, Fiore is usually explicit when this occurs and thus they are easy to spot.

Abrazare, to me, is the basis of Armizare simply because unarmed wrestling is the common ancestor of all martial arts. There are two main reasons I believe this to be so, but, as with so much else we do, there is room for interpretation.

The First Reason

In the Getty prologue Fiore talks about how the rest of the art will follow the principles laid down in abrazare. The problem is that he is also talking at that point about his pedagogical system of Crowned Masters & Scholars. So when he says:

“Overall, these Masters and students support the whole art of arms – on horseback and or foot, armored and unarmormed – through the principles they follow in abrazare” (Trans. Leoni)

is he talking the pedagogy or the martial art? He does say, before the bit quoted above, that the guards, Remedy Masters, Counter Masters, and Counter-Counter Masters form the four pillars of abrazare – and the rest of Armizare. 

The Second Reason

“I'll start the book according to the order of my lord Marquis. I'll make sure nothing is left out, so that my lord may thank me out of his nobility and courtesy. Therefore let's start with wrestling, or abrazare” (Trans. Leoni)

There are two possible ways to read the above:

• First, that it was Niccolo who decreed that Fiore start with abrazare – in other words “to the order of my lord Marquis” is to be taken literally.
• Second, that “to the order of my lord Marquis” refers to the book itself, not the order in which it must be written.

Either way, it is true that the Getty and Pissani-Dossi facsimile do start with abrazare and then progress through dagger, single hand sword, two-handed sword, spear, axe, then horseback (which runs lance → wrestling). The problem is that the other two manuscripts, the Morgan and the Florius, run the opposite; they start on horseback and run through the weapons down to abrazare. Which just so happens to follow the usual course of a judicial duel. In the end, both ways of reading both of my reasons are correct – we will never really know the answer, but the fact of the matter is that the four guards of abrazare can be seen, in various forms, with all the weapons and the principles shown are true principles that apply across Armizare.

Fiore gives three very useful bits of information in the Getty prologue. First he tells us that what he will be showing us is done “for one's life, employing every trick, deception, and cruelty imaginable” rather than showing us wrestling “for pleasure”. This is important because it tells us that when we are interpreting how to perform a play there are two questions to keep in mind:

“Would I do this if my life depended on it?”

“Would this work against someone who is actively trying to kill me?”

If the answer to either of these is “No” then your interpretation is not martially sound and needs to be revised. Now, of course, abrazare can still be done “for pleasure” - in fact, that is how we have to practice it! After all, if you keep breaking your training partners you run out pretty quickly!

The second thing Fiore tells us is to observe your opponent. Are they bigger or smaller than you? Older or younger? Stronger? Do they look like they know their way around a brawl? All these add up to a very important part of Armizare, indeed of all martial arts – knowing when NOT to fight. If the person you're about to wrestle with is 6'9” and has a face like Danny Trejo, you might want to reconsider. Just a thought.

The final bit of information Fiore gives us is a list of the eight qualities of abrazare:

• Strength
• Speed
• Knowing advantageous grapples
• Knowing how to break limbs & joints
• Knowing binds
• Knowing where to strike*
• Knowing how to throw your opponent without putting yourself in danger
• Knowing how to dislocate limbs

*Earlier, Fiore tells us these are the eyes, the nose, the temples, “under the chin” (throat), and the flanks – but only if your opponent isn't in armor!

The Guards

The four guards of abrazare are pretty self explanatory and provide the basis for all the other guards in the system. They are Posta Longa, Dente di Cinghiaro, Porta di Ferro, and Posta Frontale.

Posta Longa (Long Position) – Described as a waiting position that enters into 1^st play of abrazare. Also, the straight arm is very useful for gauging the distance between yourself and your opponent.

Dente di Cinghiaro (Boar's Tooth) – Described as the counter to the 1^st play. It can also use other offenses (binds, breaks, etc.) to transition into Porta di Ferro for the throw.

Porta di Ferro (Iron Door or Iron Gate) – Perhaps the strongest single guard with any weapon, excellent for waiting. Fiore says this guard is “full of tricks”.

Posta Frontale (Frontal Position) – Used to break Porta di Ferro. As with the other three, Posta Frontale is described as “gaining the grapples” needed for victory.

These four guards appear as opposing pairs with Posta Longa vs. Dente di Cinghiaro, and Porta di Ferro vs. Posta Frontale.

The Plays

I will be describing all these plays (where applicable) as arising from the C&E.

A Basic Collar & Elbow position. I prefer to have my "short" arm on the outside of my opponent's "long" arm.

Basic Collar & Elbow Grip – Stand facing your partner, place your right hand (or left hand – I figure you've figured that out by now haha)on your partners left shoulder and hook your left hand into your partners right elbow. Foot placement is ideally long arm = lead foot, but it works cross-footed just fine.

1^st Play (first two illustrations) – Trap your partners left hand (the one that is on your shoulder) with your chin/cheek. As you lift their elbow, turn their arm and gain the bind, give their right shoulder a slight push with your left hand and then slide it down to control their right arm. The shoulder push actually helps extend and straighten their left arm, making the bind so much easier. Footwork should be a slight accreciamento with the right foot, then either a pass back with the left or a volta stabile. In reality, do whatever footwork you need to to get the bind (so long as it fits within the framework of Armizare – mezza volte, volta stabile, tutta volta, accresciameni, descresciamenti, etc.). The 2^nd illustration show the completion of the bind. This will be an inside throw – player will go down face first in front of you (to your inside).

3^rd Play (3^rd illustration) – What to do if your partner/opponent isn't willing to simply stand there and get their arm messed up. As they pull their left hand from your shoulder (however they do it – doesn't matter) transition the enveloping motion of your right arm into a throat chop (chest slap for the “Nice Training Partner” variety) and reach down with your left hand, grabbing the nearest (usually left) knee and throwing them over your forward (right) leg. This will be an outside throw – player will go down butt first to your outside.

4^th Play - We play this as an alternate to the 3rd Play - if instead of trying to fly out, what if the Player presses in? Well, you (again) turn the enveloping motion of your right hand into a press against the Player's face, twisting it to their right. As you do this, grab their arm/waist with your left hand and volta stabile to perform an inside throw.

5^th Play - This is an outside throw variation of the 4th Play with two differences; important one - the Player's left leg is forward (not the right as in 4th Play). Not quite as important one - the Player's grip is now low with both arms (not high-low as in 4th Play). Execute the play exactly as described in 4th Play except instead of a face push, grab their chin and perform an outside throw.

6^th Play - The 6th Play introduces us to the most common grappling counter in the entire system - the elbow push. Simply push on the elbow of the hand that is against your face and do whatever grapples pop up.

7^th Play - *This Play has the Player's lead leg switched between the Getty and the PD, works either way* From the C&E (right lead), use your left hand to control Player's right arm, grasping at the wrist and twisting/opening it up. Change your elevation and drive your right arm under their lead leg while stepping underneath their right arm. I like to add a shoulder to the sternum as I drive through, but I'm just mean :)

8^th Play - A pressure point counter. Simply take your thumb and press it into the soft spot below the ear. *DO THIS CAREFULLY IN PRACTICE - IT REALLY FREAKIN' HURTS!* Like the other "hand to face" plays this can be countered with an elbow push.

9^th Play - We drill the 9th Play as a counter to an elbow push. From the C&E the Player performs an elbow push against your left (long) arm. As he closes in, throw your left arm against the right side of his neck while stepping your right foot outside his left leg, executing an outside throw.

10^th Play - The Gamberola is a straight-forward play which Fiore describes a "not safe" because your opponent can just as easily throw you! To drill this, start from the C&E, but with lead hand & lead foot crossed (right hand, left foot forward). Execute an elbow push against the Player's right arm, throwing your right arm over their shoulder (or against their throat) and passing in and placing your right foot between their feet, driving your hips into their butt as you push their upper body back, throwing them over your leg.

11^th Play - This is a counter to a full nelson and it is simple and brutal - Find something (a wall, a tree, etc.), back your opponent towards it and begin slamming them into it. :)

12^th Play - This is another straightforward play - from a double waist grip, the Scholar knees the Player in the balls. That's all - Just knee them in the block & tackle and then take advantage of their indisposition to do what you will to them. The counter is to grab behind the knee they're attempting to drive into you and throw him.

13^th Play - Here we are told that if the Player has both their arms under yours (double underhook in modern grappling parlance) and is not wearing a helm (not in armor), then put both your hands against their face - fingers in eyes, etc. You counter this with...an elbow push (noticing a pattern yet?)

14^th Play - This is just an illustration of the previously mentioned counter to the 13th play. Elbow push + grabbing under the Player's lead knee.

15^th Play - If you have double underhooks, then you can also put your hands in your opponent's face. From the double underhook position, bring your arms up and around the outside of the Player's, squeezing your elbows as close together as possible to control Player's arms.

16^th Play - This is also a counter to the 13th Play and is essentially a reverse of the 15th Play - If your hands are on the inside, as the Player attempts to put his hands in your face, then keep your elbows spread and drive your hands up between his and into his face - Fiore recommends driving your thumbs into his eyes. To counter (drum roll please) use an elbow push to open him up.

Conclusions & Observations

Fiore presents us with a very concise and wonderful little wrestling primer. Of the eight qualities he mentions in the prologue, we are only shown in detail grapples and throws - Fiore saves binds, breaks, and dislocations in detail for the dagger section. In my opinion, full knowledge of abrazare will only come from studying both the abrazare and dagger sections; unlocking all the possible techniques and variables.  The three principles that I believe are present in the abrazare section are:

• Take advantage of opponent's extended limbs.
• All throws can be reduced to two - a throw to your inside & a throw to your outside.
• The elbow push can be used to counter damn near anything.

One final observation I have about abrazare is that when I look at the body positions of the figures, I see very upright body carriage - reminiscent of modern Greco-Roman wrestling, where attacking the legs is illegal so the fighters tend to stay very upright. Compare this to the body positions of collegiate style or some folk style of wrestling - even some of the German manuscripts so very low, torso leaned forward positions, which makes it much harder for your opponent to attack your legs. See Jessica Finley's article on Ott in "In the Service of Mars" from Freelance Academy Press for a wonderful exposition of German wrestling. Now, we can go back and forth about why the different torso leans are shown, but I believe that because Fiore is showing a complete system he expects your body to remain the same. A sharply inclined torso is great when you aren't wearing armour, but in armour is a great way to a close-up of the ground in front of you.

Tune in next time for "Why the Hell Don't They Just Punch Each Other!?!"

Tinker Handle Mod 1.0

Finished up wrapping my Tinker longsword handle with waxed linen thread. The process was extremely simple:

Start at the small end of the handle, I started on one of the thin sides of the handle but it's your preference, by placing a dab of superglue / epoxy (I used Gorilla SuperGlue). Let dry.
Keeping tension on the thread, begin wrapping. I recommend wearing gloves for this otherwise your fingers wind up waxy and raw (Thanks for the warning Mike!)
OPTIONAL - if you want, every now and again you can use a drop of glue on the thread. I did this once then realized it wasn't necessary IMO.
To finish, more glue 8-D

If I putz around with this handle again it will be to put a leather wrap on over this layer of cord. This will help fatten the handle a bit (and wind up with a wood -> cord -> leather -> cord -> leather construction). Eventually I might even make my own wooden core for a new handle, but we'll see.

I didn't think to take progress pics, so here are two finished shots (crappy quality = cell phone)

I caught myslef today.

I was watching the movie "Machete" - if you haven't seen it, do so - and I started thinking about how I should get a decent machete for camping, backpacking, etc. I currently have a nice little tomahawk my father-in-law made me for larger camp tasks, but a machete or billhook would be cool. My train of thought hurtled down the tracks until it came to rest on "machete = messer = machete is a cheap substitute for a messer". I then lamented the fact that I don't study the messer and it's too bad Fiore doesn't deal with the... AH-HA! That's when I caught myself. No, Fiore doesn't deal with the messer, but he does deal with single-handed weapons. So I grabbed my copy of "In St. George's Name", which has an article on Paulus Kal's messerfechten and you know what? Every one of those techniques can be found in Fiore, between the sword in one hand section, the Zogho Stretto, and the horsey sections. I had fallen into the same trap I've watched other practitioners of weapons-based martial arts fall into - focusing too much on their particular type of weapon an not on the fact that the particular weapon can be seen as an archetype. Clear as mud?

I've covered this in other posts but the basic idea is that by training in the comprehensive systems available to us, be it German, Italian, what-have-you, you are essentially training nearly all variations of weapons - unarmed, knives & small sticks, single-hand weapons, two-hand weapons, long pole weapons.

And now I go back to watching "the 13th Warrior"

:D

Updates, updates, updates

Finally got myself a Hanwei Tinker longsword. It was an...interesting experience with a particular Hanwei distributor that was 20% my fault, so I won't publicly bash them for their lack of customer service.

Anyways, now that I have it, I am planning a simple project to re-wrap the handle, making it a bit thicker and more durable, and a more in-depth project where I'm planning to make a new handle that with be a leather wrap with a wire wrap on the lower 3", with a wire Turk's head over the join between the leather and wire.

The other major update is that I am trying to make a habit of practicing with my sword (or axe) at least 5 minutes everyday.

A Few More Video Links

Here are some links to some interesting and fun videos about daily life in the Middle Ages.

Link the First

Link the Second (w/ subtitles)

Also, another good thing to come out of the National Geographic show the other day is that it made me look up the 1459 Talhoffer and re-introduced me to this image:

 

 

Yes, a take-down poleaxe

Oh...my...God...I WANT!

Reviews, Observations, and Ramblings

Today will be a jam-packed entry featuring observations, reviews, training updates & bitch sessions!  Woo-hoo!

In case you missed it, this week the National Geographic channel aired a show called “Medieval Fight Book” all about Talhoffer's 1459 fechtbuch. The show, sadly, mostly focused on bits from the rest of the hausbuch that featured designs for war machines, etc. rather than the actual fighting plates.  The show features Terry Jones (yes, THAT Terry Jones) and Mike Loades as experts, and also features John Clements and Aron P. from ARMA. All in all, I thought that this is one of the better medieval documentary out there between the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the Hitler...er...History Channel. I just had a few quibbles (other than the lack of focus on the fighting techniques):

-The tone of the show was more “The DaVinci Code: Talhoffer style” rather than a serious documentary.  Descriptions of the manuscript as being “violent, secretive, spiritual and packed full of knowledge, an obscure and mysterious manuscript called the Fight Book”. Sigh.

There is a scene featuring a potential device to approach a besieged wall, and the device is made of boiled leather. Mike Loades testes this by having somebody fire a “VERY heavy 80lb draw bow”.  Now, while I could barely draw an 80lb bow , describing an 80lb bow as heavy is simply exaggeration. A 120lb or 160lb war bow is heavy.  Just saying.

-The gents from ARMA did a very nice presentation job, including Aron running, vaulting, and somersaulting in harness. They film a scene featuring an unarmoured man (JC) fighting an armoured man (Aron P). First problem, people who know a heck of a lot more about Talhoffer than I do say that that is not what the plate is actually showing – the artist simply didn't want to have to draw a bunch of harness over and over again (kind of like another Talhoffer where you have unarmoured guys fighting with the poleaxe). Second problem, Aron is using half-sword techniques. Against an unarmoured opponent. *blink* *blink* Why in God's name would you do that? The only reason to half-sword is because your opponent is wearing armour – if he isn't then hit him like normal.  Third problem, when JC throws his Murder Strokes he does so by gripping the flat of the blade and flicking the hilt toward Aron P. Seriously, it looked like something you'd see in an Olympic fencing bout. Nevertheless, it connects hard. Which brings us to the my biggest problem with the whole production – Aron gets hit so hard by the pommel that it dents his helm and makes him sick to his stomach. Ever look up the symptoms of a concussion? Yeah, nausea is right up there on the list. I accept that what we do is dangerous (it is a martial art after all) but still, national tv and someone gets a concussion. Awesome. I know that this is an over-reaction on my part, but  just worry that for as many people as were attracted to HEMA because of this show, some were turned away because of that one shot.

Here is a link to the show on youtube (it's in 4 parts) and to Clements' blog about the production. Oh, and I had forgotten about those funky poleaxes in Talhoffer with the crescent hooks on the queue end. I want one. :D

Just look at those things...brutal...and pretty.

An observation I wanted to make about the community in general is that there seem to be a lot of threads of various forums regarding how to execute moves that are “basic” to the Liecthenaur tradition – the Zornhau, Shielhau, etc. This has also led to discussions on Silver's “True Times” and simply put, what is the proper way to attack. I have mixed feelings on these posts. First, I feel that these types of questions are important to an individual's understanding of the manuscripts. I know that I have, and still do, ask serious questions regarding the basics of Armizare. The difference is that I usually pose these questions to a few folks via e-mail, not on a public forum. The reason I do this is that when I asked my first real question, I was too shy to post it online, so I e-mailed it to a few instructors. They told me that it was great that I was thinking critically about the manuscripts, but that these questions had been hashed out long ago. While I still e-mail out questions now and then, I accept that there are others who have come before me and that there is no reason to re-invent the wheel. Second, the negative reaction I have is because a lot of these issues have “accepted” answers within the majority of the community. Unless there is new, radical manuscript evidence, why re-hash how to form the guard Posta di Donna? We will never know exactly how to do it, we can only take our best shot, and I am content with that. The cool part is that we will all take slightly different shots at the same thing. This is our evolutionary mutation to HEMA, I may not do things exactly like my instructor, nor will my future students do things exactly like I do. But there is a funny thing about mutations, they can be beneficial and harmful. In thinking about writing this, I decided that in my opinion, a healthy mutation in a martial art is a change that remains within the system. An unhealthy mutation is a change that pushes outside the system. For example, if my instructor finds that he fights better out of front-weighted Posta di Donna and, perhaps unconsciously, primarily teaches front-weighted Posta di Donna to all his students (including me). Now, I find that I fight better out of rear-weighted Posta di Donna, so when I go on to teach my students I mostly teach rear-weighted Posta di Donna. That is a healthy mutation because both versions of Posta di Donna exist in the system. Instead of Posta di Donna you could use depth of stance. Both a low, deep stance and a high, narrow stance are used in Armizare (in Fiore and Vadi, respectively). If I teach a high stance that is still a healthy mutation. Now if I decide that Fiore's stances make no sense, so I will substitute a karate cat-stance for all high guards and a horse stance for all low guards, that is an unhealthy mutation. And guess what? Mutations within the tradition have historical precedent in HEMA. I've already used Vadi and Fiore as an example, so I'll use them again 'cause I'm lazy. Vadi is regarded as a student or successor of Fiore's Armizare and I use him as a source and place him firmly within the Armizare lineage. Yet some of his guards and plays are either slightly changed or entirely brand-new. Bu they still follow the rules of the system. Similarly, the German tradition evolved and changed over the 200+ years it was being practiced. Kind of like a martial version of the telephone game.

Last weekend, January 9^th, I finally got down to Eugene to train at the Academy for the first time since October. Far, far too long. To my surprise, and delight, Devon Boorman of Academie Duello was in town. During the morning session, the three of us played with a plethora of things; a poleaxe posta dance, abrazare drills, traded dagger flow drills, and Devon showed us some really, really cool fühlen exercises with dagger and sword. The second half of the day the majority of the Academy's students showed up (which was just cool to see honestly) and we played with the 1^st Remedy Master of dagger, then moved on to some zogho largo fun. All in all, it was a great day – it was great to see Devon again and it was absolutely awesome to see so many students there!

The problem, however, is the mind-numbing realization that 3 months of little to no physical training with sword in hand means one thing – I now suck. I suck hard. I feel like my understanding of the manuscripts is much better than it used to be but now my physical implementation has suffered. It is akin to not playing a musical instrument for a long time, then picking it up again. Your brain knows exactly what to do but your body is unable to keep up. It's frustrating and depressing, especially when you are holding yourself (and being held to) a standard. Oh well, time to shut up and train I guess.

Book review - "Meditations on Violence" by Sgt. Rory Miller

"Meditation on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence", written by Sgt. Rory Miller, a veteran corrections officer in the Pacific Northwest, is an excellent look at martial arts training and the preconceived notions about violence that inhabit almost every school, system, what-have-you.

The book is broken up into seven chapters: the Matrix, How to Think, Violence, Predators, Training, Making Physical Defense Work, and After.

1. The Matrix introduces the idea of using a matrix to "describe and analyze a multidimensional event in a multidimensional way" (Miller 2).  Miller explains that a fight can arise in four different ways: you were Surprised, you were Alerted, Mutual combat, & you are the Attacker.  There are also three levels of force: No Injury, Injury, Lethal.  What you wind up with is a 3x4 "Tactical Matrix" for examining techniques, arts, etc. in abstract situations.  He also gives you a "Strategic Matrix" which is an 11x7 grid showing different arts vs the different types of violence.
2. In How to Think, Miller challenges you to attack your own assumptions about violence and pay attention to the four common sources of knowledge: Experience, Reason, Tradition, & Entertainment and Recreation.  Miller explains that the quality of the learning gets worse as you go down that list.  Experience is the best teacher - I know that if I punch a person in this spot, they go down, so why should I listen to this "expert" who is telling me that they won't? etc.  This chapter is also where Miller discusses strategy - you need to decide, now, before the shit hits the fan, what will or will not make you "flip the switch" - and when it is time to "go" you go and you go hard.  Also discussed in this chapter is the "Observe, Orient, Decide, Act" (OODA) loop by which we make decisions, and how to exploit your opponent being caught in it.
3. Chapter 3, Violence, breaks violence into two main categories: the Monkey Dance and Predatory Violence.  The Monkey Dance is the hierarchy establishing violence that is seen throughout nature and is, by design, non-lethal - think about two elk "fighting" for the right to mate with the head, lots of noise and head-butting, but no life-threatening injuries.  Predatory Violence, however, is a very different ballgame.  In Predatory Violence, the victim is not seen as human - they are seen as a resource and Predatory Violence almost always happens as an ambush - think lions taking down a wildebeest.  Miller dissects the various aspects of violence, including the various chemicals that effect the body, and gives the reader four basic truths about violence that should impact our training: Violence happens Closer, Faster, More Suddenly, and with More Power than people usually train for.
4. Chapter 4 examines Predators - why they do what they do and how they do it.  Kind of difficult to describe, you just have to read it.
5. Chapter 5 is what I considered to be the meat-and-potatoes of the book - Training.  This is exactly what I, as a martial artist, want to read about.  Yes, I am intrigued by the the "Why's", but get me to the "How to Train for It".  The first section describes the flaws that exist in drills - when the drill sets an unrealistic expectation about violence (see chapter 3), when the drill allows unsafe techniques (punching with gloves, etc), and when the drill is based on the flaw - using medium speed techniques to counter slow speed attacks.  His most interesting complaint that hit close to home - training to pull your blows is training to miss.  The second section of this chapter discusses some of the benefits to solo and two-person katas - specifically that solo kata are wonderful for training your body to move as a unit, and that two-person kata, when done with intent & allowing the uke (player, "bad guy") to do one very counter-intuitive move, allow you to practice at a very high level without protective gear.  The remainder of the chapter deals with how to respond to the challenge of the four basic truths about violence (chapter 3).
6. The penultimate chapter is based around the five stages to defend yourself - Movement (blocking the movement), Opportunity (blocking the opportunity), Intent (blocking the intent), Relationship (altering the relationship), & Terrain (the use thereof).  Other gems include Miller reiterating his discussion that you need to set parameters upon which you will flip the switch, the Golden Rule of Combat ("Your most powerful weapon/Applied to your opponent's greatest vulnerability/At his time of maximum imbalance"), and the 4 effects you can have on your opponent - move him (or part of him), cause pain, cause damage, & cause shock.  
7. The final chapter is perhaps the most important chapter in any martial arts book I've ever read.  Miller describes, in detail, how to handle the aftereffects of real world violence - your own feelings and worries, dealing with other's perceptions of you, etc.

It is really, really hard to write a decent review of this book.  My only suggestion is to read it.  Then read it again.  Then wait a few months and read it again.  I know I will.

Here is a link to Sgt. Rory Miller's website, including his blog.