Quick Thoughts on the "Judo Masterclass" Series

Not a complete waste of money, but I always feel like I got ripped off...

If you've ever looked for Judo books, you've probably seen the "Judo Masterclass Techniques" series by Ippon Books (the same folks who do all of the "Fighting Films" Judo videos).  These books are small (a bit bigger than a folded sheet of paper) and reasonably thin (generally right at 100 pages), so they generally come out looking like very large pamphlets.

They're also very expensive.  For us in the US, we have to pay $20-$25 per pamphlet book.  Now, if a book serves as a great reference and the 100 pages are chock-full of good information, I think that's $25 well-spent...  These books, though... I always feel like I got ripped off.  When I think of a "Masterclass," I think of something geared towards those who already have a good command of the basics.  The Masterclass books invariably spend a lot of real estate on the basics, so you end up getting prescious little "master" material.  And this would be fine if it were a $7 book.  But it isn't.

I was thinking about this as I was reading Steve Scott's newest book, The Juji Gatame Encyclopedia.  It's 400+ pages all on what boils down to a single technique.  I'll be reviewing it when I'm done reading, but I hadn't gotten too far into it when I thought a great line for this book would be, "Like a Masterclass book, but not a ripoff!"  (Mr. Scott:  You can use that slogan for free!).  400+ pages, a bajillion detailed variations, defenses, problem areas...  I'm loving it so far.  This is what the Masterclass books should be.

But they aren't.