All too often, martial artists surrender their intellectual freedom and opt instead to accept without thinking the strange and unbelievable claims made by so-called masters and experts in the martial arts. Wallace Smedley takes a close look at the claims and asks important questions about the basis for such acceptance. Some of the claims are harmless, but some can get you killed if you follow them, and so questions need to be asked. Often, asking questions on the subjects can be compared to slapping a dragon, but Smedley claims that there are times when Slapping Dragons is exactly what we...

Within the martial arts a person will find outrageous claims, and subtle lies. There are tales of ancient masters who had powers usually reserved for Superman or Santa Clause, but there are also instructors who use misleading marketing tactics to entice students to pay to be safe. Few instructors actually tell students that the best way to be safe is to be nice to people and not act like a raving ding-dong anytime someone rubs you the wrong way. One will also find absurd practices and a near brainwashing process where you surrender your critical thinking in favor of herd mentality. It is easy...

Every single day across this country people are taught ways to save their life from the bad guy, only to end up in jail for assault if their training works as advertised. They are taught to gamble their life and freedom on what they are told is fact. Self-defense is not like high stakes gambling, it is the highest stakes gambling. If you are going to gamble - do it right. To do it right you need to know how the game is played, what the rules are, and you really need to understand the odds. That is where this book comes in. Texas Hold'em Self-Defense will teach you how to play the game, how...