Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere: An Illustrated Introduction

Last month I started aikido lessons at age 30, with no previous martial arts experience whatsoever. I chose aikido because of its pacifist nature, which I learned about, albeit superficially, while doing a little bit of internet research. It didn't hurt that the dojo was in walking distance from my apartment. When I stepped into my first class, though, I felt like I was drowning, figuratively. The senior students were throwing around Japanese phrases left and right, and I was embarrassingly ignorant about the rituals. And there are lots of rituals. Believe me. I decided after my first class that I needed a book that would 1) explain the basics of each exercise, 2) have a glossary of Japanese terms used in aikido, and, most importantly, 3) describe the rituals in a typical aikido class and what they're all about. This book has all these things. It turned out to be an ideal supplement to what I'm learning in class. The only thing that prevents me from giving this book five stars, however, is that the, um, excessive style of writing is irritating at points. An example: "The practice then is the way along which a man can proceed from the basic, utilitarian consideration of learning an efficient means of self-defense which will follow certain ethical guidelines, to the 'high country' where the art becomes a Discipline of Coordination [sic] aimed at the harmonizing of opposites or alternates- not an art bent on or resulting in destruction, individual or wholesale." Quickly, someone, take away that man's thesaurus...