Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training and Real World Violence

I ordered this book as it's been highly recommended by almost everyone so i thought I'd give it a read. Well I am disappointed to be honest. I found it pretentious and rather sad that Mr Miller (who has a very impressive background as it is) had to keep illustrating throughout the book what a badass he is. Incidents taking down bad guys whilst holding a hot cup of coffee and not spilling a drop (I kid you not) and givng a hardened perp his 1000 yard stare and turning him into a pussycat are just a couple of examples. Some of the information was useful but most of it was covered (to a better extent IMO) in Geoff Thompson's "Dead Or Alive".
Maybe it's just me but I found that Mr Miller's examples of badassness just detracted from the salient points he was previously trying to make. He also does contradict himself a bit, too.

I noticed a lot of the rave reviews inside the book and on the back cover are from other authors (and friends of his, btw) from the YMAA publisher's stable.
My opinions defineitely won't change people's minds and I doubt Mr Miller could give a hoot as he has a very successful business etc and people who want to attend his seminars etc. It's a shame that someone with his background has to resort to "laying it on a bit thick" IMO.

PS> anyone interested can have my copy for £5.00 inc p&p.

I'm reading this book now. So far so good. I'll give a full review once i've completed it.

This is an excellent book that I order instantly when it became available after follow Rory's blog for a long time.

This book is wonderful. It's too easy to say that "real world" scenarios can't be prepared for in the dojo -- when I read this book, I left a bookmark wherever a drill was described which could be used in class. There were a lot of markers when I finished the book. Miller is an clear and organized writer.