Official Review: Secrets of the East: The Ancient Warrior...

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[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Secrets of the East: The Ancient Warrior Secrets of Success and Survival" by M. P. Schaefer.]

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This is the official review of Secrets of the East: The Ancient Warrior Secrets of Success and Survival by M. P. Schaefer

Secrets of the East is a non-fiction account of Schaefer’s study of martial arts, including the history of warrior codes and various diagrams showing how to perform specific moves.

The book opens with a chapter on the historical background of various Warrior Codes and how they may be followed. This is well-written and presented in an interesting manner, drawing the reader in with a desire to learn more about the past and the rich history of martial arts. Even as a layman to the world of martial arts, I found these sections easy to understand.

Schaefer goes on to detail different aspects of martial arts, from disarming an opponent to adjusting one’s headspace in order to be a better fighter, and from overcoming a much larger opponent to using one’s own weapon effectively. As interesting as this is, however, it is presented using descriptions that are often hard to follow, especially for a layman. Instructions such as how to move one’s hands or turn one’s hips are clumsily worded and often quite confusing.

The e-book contains many formatting errors; a sentence will often run on into a new paragraph for no discernable reason, and the chapter headings are not made to stand out from the rest of the text, creating something of a wall of text that is difficult to read. On top of this, the text is full of grammatical errors: ‘your’ is often used in place of ‘you’re’, which is somewhat off-putting.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 (though I would give it a personal rating of 2.75 out of 4). While I found it interesting in parts, the often obtuse details of how to execute a stance made the majority of the book difficult to understand, and the grammatical and formatting errors made it somewhat uncomfortable to read. If not for the issues mentioned above, I would have been happy to give the book a rating of 3 out of 4. Therefore, I will concede that the historical sections are well-written and engaging, that Schaefer has a way of writing that makes history seem interesting, which shows the passion that lives behind the writing – something that is to be respected. The book would appeal most to anyone who has an interest in martial arts, both to learn martial arts and learn about the history thereof.

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