Sometimes I start reading
a book for one purpose and it turns out to be useful for something else as
well. Guy Windsor’s book Swordfighting, for writers, game designers,
and martial artists is that kind of book.
I started reading in order to write a non-cringeworthy fight scene. I have a lot more tools to accomplish that
now.
However, from my perspective
as a personal trainer, I found a great book about how to learn physical
processes. Windsor’s methods boil down
to what I learned as “praxis” back when I worked as a facilitator for a
service-learning program. He combines
analytical work, including scholarship and intellectual inquiry into how
techniques are playing out, with rigorous physical training. The results enrich both the theory and the
practice as the knowledge informs the movement and the movement provides feedback
on the quality of the knowledge.
Essentially, he provides a blueprint for one way of doing mindful
movement. That may sound a little Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,
but it’s a good thing. (And I liked that
book, back when I read it a hundred or so years ago…)
This may not be the book
for everyone. I happen to have a degree
in English with an emphasis on the medieval period, so I don’t need to be sold
on the coolness of swords or manuscripts and I find the research part as
fascinating as the practical aspects. It
is not a stand-alone reference for the new-to-the-subject—a lot of the Italian
names for the various techniques are unexplained and untranslated. However, Windsor is an engaging writer with
strong and sometimes eccentric opinions, some of which align with my own
eccentric opinions.
I like his general philosophy
for working hard and smart.