Highland Knife Fighting: With the Dirk and Sgian Paperback – Illustrated, 15 April 2009

Living in Scotland again and having acquired the family estate I was interested in the Amory a place out of bounds as a young boy. Living in the place alone besides the few staff I felt rather uncomfortable over holidays. I decided to keep a dirk and broad sword in my room for self defence proposes as large house are not unheard of being raided. To while away some time I have trained for nearly a year now, and have become rather proficient. When I first started the dirk felt heavy and cumbersome, but now with constant training my arm is strong enough that it feels light. I can also use my left hand for fighting, this felt horrible and unnatural at first, however I am totally ambidextrous with the dirk now. If not to prove this systems worth I recently attended a seminar in combat and had an opportunity to spar, the instructor was very impressed with my ability and enquired how I had learned. So something must be good within these pages.......like all training books there was the odd problem but overall it's proved valuable teacher. I plan to invite the author to my home in Scotland....

THE DELIVERY OF THE BOOK WAS VERY PROMPT.ONCE IT ARRIVED, EVERY PART OF THE BOOK WAS IIN BEAUTIFUL GLOSSY PRINT, EVERY PAGE AND PICTURE AND TEXT WAS CLEAR AND CLEARLY LEGIABLE. CLEARLY THE AUTHERS HAVE A PASSION FOR THEIR SUBJECT. THE OMLY THING I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE WAS A SEQUENCE OF ACTION SHOTS TO EXPLAIN THE TECHNIQUES MORE

An excellent insight in to the old ways of Scottish culture, and how exactly the weapons were employed during combat.I will deffinately start to wear a dirk from now on with my highland dress.

A small but useful book. The author has researched the subject well, but due to the lack of original treatise, some logical suggestions are applied. There are many black and white photos which help illustrate the guards and positions, which is very helpful. I found it interesting that steps in highland dancing, could be used as trips and throws in combat. The author does stress that this is not a modern knife fighting course, but its defensive applications are still apparent, and useful, as well as interesting. Dirk fighting seemed to be based on getting in and out very quickly. Or else just get away. This seems like sound advice.