If you are looking for a readable and easy to understand overview of Enlightenment thought in the US, this is a good place to start. Although you may quibble with some of the analysis, Ferguson does a good job presenting the different threads of Enlightenment thought in America, with special emphasis on how it impacted the thoughts and writings of the Founding Fathers.

The author does a wonderful job of bringing early Seattle history to life. By describing the characters that were important in the founding of Seattle one gains a new respect for what it is that makes Seattle unique. The directions given for locating the graves of famous Seattle pioneers are very helpful, because although most of these pioneers are located in the same cemetery, Lake View is not your typical pioneer cemetery.

This book is a terrific primer, not just about psychiatric drugs, but on psychiatric illnesses, their classification and symptoms. Additionally, the authors include a number of case histories, some successful, some not. Numerous questions are asked and answered in an easy-to-read, concise format. The first 363 pages are on these generalized topics and are extremely well done. The remaining 248 pages are on specific drugs, with two pages devoted to each medication. The glossary and index are complete and well done. My only disappointment is that the book was published in 1992. If the authors updated the book for newer drugs and increased knowledge of psychiatric illnesses, I would purchase the revised edition in an instant. Still, the original book is the best I've read on the subject and is "must" reading for anyone who wants a better understanding of psychiatric illnesses and medications.

This book is completely worthless! The 5 star reviews were more than likely writen by the author. If you want a book on grappling buy Royler and Renzo Gracie's Jiu Jitsu book or Rigan Machado's book. All I have ever heard about Robert Ferguson is that he is a shameless self promoter. There is no person that I know of called Doug Gracie! Saying that Ferguson helped develop the Gracie family's jiu jitsu is damn near libelous!

SUBMISSION WRESTLING: The Martial Arts Guide To Grappling ByRobert Ferguson

Review by: Michael "KempoMike" Gonzalez

SubmissionFighting Underground Forum member

First let me say that this was a difficult task. Much more difficult than I realized when I first made the challenge to Ferguson asking him to allow me to review his materials for the Underground Forum. Due to my professional bias against Ferguson, I had a difficult time not reviewing this book and his instructional videos, at face value. I actually read the book twice and had a third, unbiased party, read it as well. In the end, we came up with the same conclusion. I checked and double checked my notes that we kept during the reading of the book and once again came up with the same results....

If you are looking for a book to learn submission wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo, Judo, or free style wrestling submission techniques...then this is NOT the book for you! Ferguson's book has very little, if any, submission techniques. You would be better off buying the Fighter's Notebook or Gene LeBell's Encyclopedia of Finishing Holds. Your money would be better spent with either of these two books.

The book is solely for the person who absolutely no knowledge of grappling and who is looking for a place to begin reading to get a basic introduction to the art of grappling.

In the book, he has covered some important aspects that are often over looked. I will give them mention because I think they deserve mentioning....

One of the chapters, entitled "The Evolutionary Process To Becoming A Martial Artist" is short but insightful. Basically he states that there are 5 stages. He describes, briefly, the five stages. I will only name them as they are named in the book...Stage One: Acceptance of Cultural Influence.....Stage Two: Learning the Instructor's Art.....Stage Three: Becoming Creative With What's Learned.....Stage Four: Become Well Traveled (this refers to cross training with other instructors and styles - not about geographical travel)......Stage Five: Become Well Learned.

The Next Chapter is also of importance in the book and especially to a novice that is using this book as a guide to do a little research from. The chapter is entitled, " CHAPTER TWO: Finding A Good Instructor. This is probably the best chapter in the book. In fact, I would have liked to have seen more time and effort put into this chapter and the one mentioned above. A whole book could be devoted to these two chapters. He breaks this chapter down to sub-headings and briefly describes each...these include....Personal Experience.....Know What You Want To Learn....Use Common Sense....What Instructor Should You Visit......There Is No Best, Most Complete, or Most Authentic Grappling System.....Believe Only What You See and Not What You Hear.....Just Because An Instructor Is The Best You Have Seen, Doesn't Mean He Is The Best There Is.....Just Because A Teacher Is A good Grappler, Doesn't Mean He Is A Good Teacher....Don't Be Intimidated......Don't Get Wrapped Up In Fantasy.

Again, Ferguson should have really turned on the literary freedom here and let loose. This book could have been great on these two chapters alone....but....it lacks because of the brief text.

Ferguson then goes on to show some pictures of other famous martial artists and does a little name dropping. Hey, fine...it's his book after all. Chapter Three is about conditioning and drilling. I was really hoping to see some great drills here but other than writing about the importance of conditioning there are only ten exercises given in a list and they are not explained at all....no words, no pictures. Bummer.

Chapter Four: Six Basic Skills.......Ferguson adds a little meat to his text. (finally) Not too bad. He does a fairly good job of explaining what these are and their importance...but again, it is rather brief.

Chapter Five: Champion's Forum. I really didn't care much for this chapter. It has some short biographical text and pictures of Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Santos Flaniken, and once again, a lot of name dropping and photo opportunities. Nothing really here...at least not for me.

Chapter Six: Ground Positions.....ahhh, back to the meat again. I had to look at this over and over for a couple of reasons....one, Ferguson's positions are a little different than those of my BJJ training. Approx. 95% are the same but what he calls positions are sometimes just slight variations of a core position...but hey...I am a BJJ guy, so I can look over that one. The next disappointment is that throughout the book the photos are too dark and are mostly shot from too far away. This is one of the most important chapters and it is hard to see what Ferguson and his partner are doing due to the photo quality. Ferguson attempts a great teaching strategy here by showing how to position and flow to other positions. This is actually a great drill but the photos do not do it justice. He also covers this on his videos which I will review in another thread. This is a great idea and all instructors should teach their variation of this BEFORE any submissions are ever taught. Nice try Ferguson...but the photos leave it a little flat. If it wasn't for my experience in BJJ, I would have had a very difficult time interpreting what was going on in the photos.

Chapter Seven: Submissions......I already stated that there are no submissions here. There are only pictures of a rear naked choke, an ankle lock, and an armbar (Juji-Gatame). THAT"S IT!!!! Nothing explaining the execution or application of a submission. Chapter fell very flat for me.

Chapter Eight: Counters, Reversals, and Escapes.......This chapter should have immediately followed Chapter Six: Ground Positions. It would have made a great combination had he really done the homework. He does teach some reversals, escapes, etc....BUT....once again, the photos don't do him justice and if not for my experience, I couldn't have interpreted.

Chapter Nine: Submission Strategy With and Without The Uniform......Here Ferguson covers the difference between the two but only gives single shot photos of submissions not sequences showing the execution of a technique. He does a little name dropping here with Photos of Walt Lysak Jr., Fabio Gurgel, and Mericar Ocampo.

Chapter Ten: Set Ups and Combinations......This is a nice chapter detailing strategy but is very short. NOTE: The one nice thing that Ferguson does here is talk about Bruce Lee's Five Ways of Attack. He very briefly...too briefly ....explains their relationship to grappling. Nice job. The five ways of attack are not just for striking. I liked that a lot...unfortunately....he is too brief. Ferguson could have done half a book with this stuff.

At the end of the book Ferguson gives an appendix...in it he gives the rules for sport submission wrestling. Nicely done....he also gives URL addresses for other websites. He covers the Gracies, Submission fighting, Machos, Grappling, and various URLs for Sambo, NHB, Judo / Jiu-Jitsu, etc. This is a great addition for the person who needs to do more homework and wants to see what other grappling styles are out there. This is a wealth of information. Nice touch Ferguson.

FINAL ANALYSIS: The book is for the very inexperienced who are looking for a good place to start. Intermediate and Advanced grapplers will not benefit overall from the book but there are a couple of small highlights. The photos are too dark and shot from too far away. Too bad, because they would have made the book better. Another note: On the cover is a blurb citing that the book is endorsed by the American Freestyle Grappling Association. I find this ironic, mainly because Ferguson IS the A.F.G.A. Using the Amazon.com rating method of 1 - 5 stars.(1 being the lowest and 5 the best) I give the book 3 stars. A little more attention to detail and some more time explaining text and this book could have been really good. Keep Training Hard.....Michael

I have been training in the martial arts for over 10 years with little knowledge of grappling or submission wrestling. This book was great for me because it explained the basics and gave me insight into what makes grappling work. This book is not for the advanced, but it is a true winner for anyone wanting to take an intellectual approach to learning grappling.

Been a Wrox fan for some time. This is the worst book their team has produced. The material is cursory at best and totally theoretical. Very few practical examples. Never thought I would point to an MSPress Step-by-Step book, however it is far superior to this junk.

I found this book to be helpful in understanding how to utilize multidimensional database design. It was nice to see that Microsoft has some affordable alternatives one can turn to in the data mining and data warehousing market. Once again WROX has produced a helpful product for professionals in the computer industry.

I bought Sakhrs version of this book for SQL Server 7. This is not just an upgrade but a look at the new functionlity found within SQL Server 2000.

This book is a dream if you are involved within Analysis and even looking at the new DTS Analysis functions has helped me.

Comparing this with other books, by far this is the one that is well written and doesnt just come out with the obvious.

This book does give you good advice adout rape and rapist. But, the section on self-defense techniques is too brief, and the instruction is not complete enough to teach the average women proper techniques.

Universal Mind is a simple book that goes over simple occult principles and explains topics like reading your future from dominos, playing cards, talking to people in their dreams, color healing, healthy eating, and a few other topics. Nothing ground breaking, but still a nice little book for people interested in occult aspects.