The Big Book of Fencing

Fencing.Net
Product Details
You can’t learn to fence from a book, but you can learn significant things about fencing. Written for the average American fencer, this 271-page text has gotten "must buy" reviews from the British and Dutch fencing federations as well as by current president of the American Fencing Coaches Association (the USFA does not review fencing texts). Included are sections on history, pedagogy, tactics, directing, repair (Dr. Volkmann’s celebrated repair manual is one of the sections), and the plans for a fencing dummy. The main part of the text, though, is a highly illustrated encyclopedia of all the moves used in foil fencing, which includes the theories behind the moves and positions, and detailed explanations of what goes wrong when trying to learn them. Just the section on stance, advance, retreat, lunge, and recovery types take over thirty detailed pages.
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85%
Guest

Guest's Comments

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Summary: Magnum Libre(sic) D'Escrime
March 3rd, 2009

There is a lot of good information here - it's particularly useful for reviewing at home and understanding what you heard while training hands-on. Lots of great info and images of correct stance and motion.

However, it appears never to have been proof-read by anyone, which is not excusable in a Third Edition.

The book is laced with typos and formatting errors on nearly every page, starting with the Title on the front cover, which translates as "Big Free of Fencing", because he mis-spelled the French word for book (livre) and turned it into the term for free or freedom (libre). 

He also persistently misuses words such as "phalanges", for which he substitutes "flanges", which drives me crazy and makes the content seem extremely unprofessional. It is hard to tell whether the author is unfamiliar with English, or is simply a lousy speller.

If he ever took the time to edit and proof it, it would be readable, and it is certainly an excellent compendium of information not readily available elsewhere, but as it stands, it is hard to get past the really awful lack of editing and low-grade self-publishing.

I rate the book as "good" for content, and "Poor" for writing/editing/proofreading/publishing.

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achilles_heal

achilles_heal's Comments

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Summary: A wonderful resource
August 6th, 2007
This is an excellent manual. It includes a section on armoring and plans for a pretty cool fencing dummy with a spring loaded weapon "arm." Dr. Volkman's book has proved invaluable for running various inro classes and other dealings with "pointy" weapon people at our fencing club.
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vawarriormonk

vawarriormonk's Comments

Summary: Love it!
July 27th, 2007
I got this from the library and it was incredible! I will buying this book for my class.
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Epee Scherma

Epee Scherma's Comments

Summary: Knowledgable text
August 1st, 2004
I particulary liked Volkman's techinical descriptions of fencing moves. He went to the effort to describe what mistakes may occur, which most books don't. It is also a well rounded text, providing information on electric repair and building a fencing dummy. It is a great all around manual to fencing.
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Artisan

Artisan's Comments

Summary: Need to have it
July 17th, 2003
An excellent resource with lots of good, clear practical information, from basic parries, to compound attacks. Some brief historical info, and an invaluable section on equipment troubleshooting, repair and assembly. A good chapter on how to build a fencing dummy with complete plans is worth the price of the book alone.



Biggest flaw is in the quality of the illustrations, which are B/W photos with hand drawn highlighting to improve legibility - Like what you'd see in an "How to fix your VW beetle" manual from the 60's. Book is plastic spiral bound 8-1/5" x 11" and appears to have been published in the basement by the author.
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wflaschka

wflaschka's Comments

Summary: Great resource on fencing
July 11th, 2003
One of the English language's greatest resources on fencing. It comes in an unassuming form, a vanity publication with letter-size pages and plastic binding. Within the book is a comprehensive collection information about fencing -- from history, to drills, to strategies, to exercises. There are chapters on parries, disengages, lunges, repairs, fencing dummies. If you're new to fencing, this book will be informative and useful. If you're an advanced fencer, this book might not tell you anything new (though I doubt that... there's a lot of information here)... but at least it will tell you in a new way. It's also a great foundational text for new or starting coaches, which is how I used it.
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Gav

Gav's Comments

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Summary: Good Book,
July 2nd, 2003
I liked this book. Enthusiastically written and interesting, with a great equipment section. It's only problem is the production which looks like it was put together by a primary school kid. Rudy should invest in getting it professionally produced or seek a publishing contract (which given it's popularity seems likely).



Gav
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Craig

Craig's Comments

Summary: Great guide to fencing.
June 30th, 2003
I've worked with Rudy Volkmann at fencing camps through my career and he has a great understanding and love of the game. This is the first product that I sold at Fencing.Net and I've received great reviews of it from customers.



The book is great; very detailed in the information as well as guides to help you watch out for the top mistakes made when trying out new techniques.



Check on the forum for discussions of this book and you will see some other thoughts/comments that were made before the review system was in place.
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