Being the author of several books on martial arts and fighting, I am always looking for books of exceptional quality to add to my library. If I have a book in my library, it’s definitely worth having. One such book is Peyton Quinn’s “A Bouncer’s Guide to Barroom Brawling.”
The most important thing to remember when reading this book, or any other that deals with self-defense techniques, is that the principles behind the technique are far more important than the technique itself. Once again, Peyton does a great job with this, and you would do well to sit down and read this book from cover to cover several times to understand what it is trying to teach you.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
1. The Ambush: Awareness and Avoidance
One of the important points that the author tries to convey to you in this section is that fighting has serious legal and medical consequences and should be avoided as much as possible. Remember, nothing is easy to do unless you are willing to do it first. Also, learning to avoid potential conflict is perhaps the most important “technique” you can learn. It is vitally important and should be considered the first line of defense for him.
2. The reality of the fight
These are just some of the items of interest that are covered in this section.
has. The strongest assets of the dumb puncher he uses are as follows; confidence, experience, competence and tactics.
b. Some of the very real features of “Real Fights” such as; real fights are actually very sloppy compared to the ones shown in movies most fights only last a few seconds most fights are decided by punches to the head most real fights involve some type of grapple, kicks (particularly above the waist) are not very effective in a real fight.
Now I must admit that I am not very fond of statements like the last one that seem to bring down the effectiveness of kicks in a real fight. For my part, I have trained extensively in kicks and have used them successfully many times in “real fights”. However, having said that, I freely admit that the point the author is trying to get across here is actually a very good one. Most people not only don’t know how to kick correctly to begin with, they have no idea how to actually apply them in a “real fight”.
against The author’s observations on martial arts versus actual fighting; Peyton, in my opinion, is one of the most realistic self defense authors out there today simply because he takes a realistic and practical approach to the effectiveness of traditional martial arts when it comes to the subject of self defense. Unlike other authors who seem to criticize any type of formal martial art that exists, Peyton freely admits the importance and value of it not only in self-defense, but also in all other aspects of his life. In this section he provides some really good food for thought and it was a real pleasure to read them.
3. The toolbox
This section begins with a great piece of advice: “It is more important to learn how to avoid being hit effectively than it is to learn how to hit effectively.”
The author then describes several different hand strikes and how to execute them. This particular section is really good and offers some very practical and valuable advice.
I especially enjoyed the author’s moving story about a training session he had with a fourth degree Tae Kwon Do black belt. This is quite a funny and interesting story, and from which you can learn a lot, if you know how to read between the lines. The author then ends this section with a bit more discussion of hand, elbow, and knee strikes.
4.Principles of Defense
The most notable piece of advice the author has put into this book is simply this: “The principles and concepts behind the techniques are more important than the techniques themselves,” or something similar. This is something I have been saying for at least 20 years, ever since I started teaching. This section discusses various block and hit principles.
5. Mobility, Posture, Orientation, and the Finer Points of Staying Out of Jail
This section covers a lot of ground covering the topics of proper stance, use of footwork, and maintaining and keeping the proper distance between you and your opponent.
6. Grab, throw and escape
This section covers a lot of great information on the subject of catch and throw. I really enjoyed the information in this section and it alone is worth the price of this book.
7. Selection of an appropriate martial art for your personal study
I found this to be one of the best sections of the entire book. Here the author takes a fairly honest and knowledgeable look at the various martial arts and the numerous factors one must consider when trying to decide which ones to study.
Overall, I found Peyton’s book to be outstanding and am proud to have it in my personal library. I find Peyton’s approach to the subject refreshing and honest and I personally hold him in high regard.
I highly recommend that you buy this book and read not only the words that Peyton has written, but perhaps more importantly, the ones that were written between the printed lines.