Nadi on Fencing

I've been fencing foil for two years -- I train very hard and I'm lucky enough to have an excellent instructor. But after reading only a few pages of this book, the light bulb went on! I was able to go to class the same day I read about Nadi's combination of parries and not only amaze myself that I finally had discovered something that actually worked!! But I was also able to surprise several very accomplished fencers that were forced to retreat after I unexpectedly took right of way!Admittedly, you should already have the basics down before reading this book -- but once you have a working knowledge of the mechanics of the fencing movements; everything else you need to know about being successful on the strip, is there!For me, Nadi on Fencing has been the most helpful so far. I can understand it; put it into practice and see immediate results; not bad for a sport that takes years to be good at!

Very well written. Best book I've come across on fencing yet.

This book has been printed by a small publisher, Laureate Press, for more than a decade. Now Dover comes in and wants to take this very small market away from a company that has struggled to provide this and other books to the fencing community for so long. Laureate Press is responsible for bringing Aldo Nadi's name back to the attention of the fencing world. They published this book in 1994, and though not sold through book stores anymore, it has been in print ever since (see Bowker's Books in Print) and available here on Amazon in the Market Place as a New Book under the "On Fencing" title or directly from Laureate Press. This book along with Nadi's autobiography The Living Sword, Secrets of the Sword by Bazancourt, and William Gaugler's books, The Science of Fencing, the Dictionary of Fencing Terminology, and the History of Fencing, are also published by Laureate Press. That's all they do, Dover has hundreds of titles.Notes on this book: The typeface is smaller in Dovers version and therefore much harder to read. The back cover quotes and some of the text appears to have been taken right off the back cover of the Laureate Press book. They did not include the New Foreword as in the Laureate version, that gives a short biography of Nadi's life. They also did not include the portrait of Nadi and his signature, which is opposite the title page in the Laureate book. I think the photo and signature give my copy a much more personalized feel, almost as if Nadi signed it himself.A purchase of this Dover version "Nadi on Fencing" is a nail in the coffin for the other great fencing titles Laureate Press publishes. I think Dover should go back to publishing books that are no longer in print and leave the small publishers alone.

Nadi weiß exakt worüber er schreibt, manche Leute mögen das als arrogant empfinden, was meiner Ansicht mehr über diese Leute als Nadi aussagt. Das Buch mag etwas historisch anmuten, ist aber gleichzeitig in weiten Teilen überraschend modern. Die historische Darlegung der Etikette im Salle ist wertvoll, so wie Nadis klare Position hinsichtlich der unsäglichen "hintere Ferse runter, weil es geschrieben steht, darum" Thematik, die immer noch im Anfängerbereich gelehrt wird. Ich habe es selbst mehrfach erlebt und halte es für kontraproduktiven Blödsinn. Nadis detaillierte Beschreibung des Ausfalls ist ebenfalls sehr aufschlußreich und unterscheidet sich in entscheidenden Details von anderen Lehrbüchern. Hinsichtlich Paraden wird Klarheit geschaffen wie auch mit der klassischen Quadranteneinteilung aufgeräumt - ich hatte diese stets als unzureichend empfunden. Einzig hätte ich mir ein paar Skizzen oder Zeichnungen gewünscht, die den Text unterstützen (zwischen 4 und 10 Stück hätten da gereicht), deswegen einen Stern Abzug. Es ist schade, da insbesondere auch Anfänger sehr von diesem Buch profitieren können, aber die praktisch reine Textform dem nicht zuträglich ist. Ferner sollte man sich nicht zu sehr davon irritieren lassen, dass sich der Text auf den italienischen Griff bezieht (seine Analyse des französischen Griffes ist köstlich und deckt sich auch mit meiner Wahrnehmung), es kann relativ leicht auf den Pistolengriff übertragen werden.

grande libro scritto da uno degli schermidori o forse lo schermidore più forte di tutti i tempi nella scherma occidentale.Libro famoso scritto in inglese di grande impatto, dove Nadi mette in risalto il basso livello degli istruttori di scherma negli stati uniti ai suoi tempi.Parla di alcuni aneddoti del duello e del suo pensiero sulla scherma come arte sviluppata attraverso il sangue e la guerra.Un libro importante dal quale prese spunto anche Bruce Lee nella sua ricerca e creazione del Jeet Kune Do.Fantastico per chi pratica ed insegna scherma e discipline da combattimento!!

A clear understanding of the fundermentals of the fencing art.If one read this book and put in to practise the words of Aldo, excellence would be achieved.

E' il Libro scritto da uno spadaccino nato , non da uno spadaccino diventato .Il padre Maestro il Fratello miglior spadaccino di tutti i tempi .La passione e le regole d' oro trasudano da questo scritto .Un campione del mondo non pottrebbe scriver questo libro ,non sarebbe all' altezza !Bruce Lee lo ha capito e ne ha preso spunto .Unico neo avrei voluto una foto per spiegazione .Ma all' epoca non era possibile !Ci sono segreti in questo libro per chi sa coglierli !!!

Nice reading, but it is interesting mostly from historic perspective. I believe a person who has a background in fencing will find it quite interesting, but it has virtually no value for a novice. In any case, fencing cannot be learned from reading books. Join a fencing club if you want to learn about fencing. Fencing *and* reading is much better than just reading :)