A basic Urban Warrior Library
Knowledge is Power
Top Ten Books Every Urban Warrior Should Have
By The Sensei
Top Ten Books Every Urban Warrior Should Have
By The Sensei
Last year, one such student—a voracious reader—asked me for a list of some useful books every Urban Warrior should have. I liked this trainee’s enthusiasm for knowledge, so I gave him a disk containing a catalog of the volumes in my own library to get him started. Next week when I saw him, his normally cheery face was a frown.
“What’s up with you?” I asked.
“That disk you gave me,” He replied, “it’s got more than a thousand books on it."
It really hadn’t occurred to me.
“That’s not so many.” I said. “I’ve been building up my library for decades, remember. But even if you only buy a couple of books a week, you’ll have a thousand books in less than ten years. You’re planning on getting ten years older, right? So why not have a fantastic library of information waiting for you when you get there?"
“Sure,” he shot back. “But where do I start right now? Let’s say I just want a handful of the best books—real classics that I could learn a lot from and keep returning to, what would you suggest?"
I had to go away and think about this, and the answer was painful to obtain. At first I drew up a list of “essential” books, but there were more than fifty items on the list. Too many. I decided to grind it down to a lean, mean ten. This was unpleasant because I had to leave out so many good books—books that could have easily made my top ten list.
But it had to be done, and I did it. So for those of you who are interested in building up a basic, solid Urban Warrior library, here are ten of the best books in the world to get you started:
THE URBAN WARRIOR LIBRARY:
THE TOP TEN
1. The Urban Warrior's Bible. This is a no-brainer. This book will teach you a wide-range of basic skills, as well as specialist arts you won’t find anywhere else. More importantly, it will teach you how to walk the path of The Urban Warrior as a way of life—and without this psychological training, it will be very hard to assimilate the other books in this list. In addition, the latest 2008 edit is the “Ultimate Edition”, updated and expanded. If you only get one self-protection book for your library, make it this one.THE TOP TEN
2. The Art of War. This is the classic text on strategy, written over twenty-five centuries ago by Chinese general Sun Tzu. Although there are various useful and valuable books on strategic thinking, this is the one to go for if you only have one specialist book on strategy. Buy a good copy with extensive commentaries to allow you to journey more deeply into the ideas and their applications. And make it your own. Litter the pages with notes!
3. The War Department Physical Training Manual. Okay, you have trained your mind; time to train your body. It seems like the modern attitude to exercise is founded on dependency; dependence on expensive machines, gadgets, supplements and even drugs. Former generations learned how to train with none of these crutches—in fact the best way to train is with nothing but your body, because in a crisis it may be all you have. This military manual from World War II will teach you how to do just that. A complete conditioning course, it includes strength training, guerrilla exercises, obstacle training for agility, running and grass drills, as well as sections on useful skills like swimming, lifesaving and hand-to-hand combat fitness.
4. Kill or Get Killed. This is not a flashy book on martial arts, but a realistic volume on the practicalities of close combat. The techniques set down are as simple (and therefore as foolproof) as possible, extremely aggressive, and in keeping with the Six Deadly Laws of The Urban Warrior. Covers unarmed combat, knife techniques and miscellaneous weapons as well as small arms and rifle tactics. Also includes interesting chapters on riots and prisoner handling. Written in the early 1940’s, it’s still in use by the US Marine Corps as a combat manual. That should tell you something about its value.
5. The Anarchist Cookbook. The Urban Warrior does not belong to a military unit and does not have his weapons provided for him. Therefore in this important area, we must look further than mere military manuals. This is the classic “underground” text on building lethal weapons out of everyday, available chemicals and objects. Includes instructions on how to make nitroglycerine, gunpowder and even napalm. Some of the information given is erroneous, but it still contains the broadest information concerning improvised weaponry available in a single publication.
6. Total Resistance. This book is probably the ultimate written resource on urban resistance and underground combat methodology. Issued in 1957 By Major H. Von Dach, it was originally intended as a textbook for civilians and ex-military to conduct guerrilla warfare against an invading army (i.e., the Soviets). As such it bridges the gap between military and civilian combat methods, and includes information on more advanced and far-reaching techniques and tactics than most pedestrian self-protection manuals. Includes sections on sabotage, subterfuge, ambush, formation of guerrilla units, and much more.
7. How To Be Invisible. Being an Urban Warrior is about more than just strategy and combat preparedness. They key to ultimate victory is not to become a target in the first place! Unfortunately in the modern age, true stealth is becoming increasingly difficult; we are tracked by CCTV, the computers we use, the ‘phones we carry, the cars we drive and all other manner of surveillance that most urbanites don’t even know about. This book is probably the best resource available to help master and overcome this changing climate.
8. US Army Special Forces Medical Handbook. Every home library should contain a good how-to book on medicine. During a disaster scenario, external help (doctors, hospitals) may not be available for a significant period of time, so flimsy “first-aid” manuals are not enough. This solid book comes in at nearly six hundred pages and contains useful content on everything from anatomy and dentistry to war surgery and triage. An invaluable edition to own.
10. The SAS Survival Handbook.* Written by the foremost survival instructor of the British SAS. This book does not cover the art of urban survival—as described in The Urban Warrior’s Bible—but it remains the finest and most comprehensive work on wilderness survival ever published. As a result, many of the techniques can be stolen for our discipline; like the methods of making fire, distilling water, navigation, coping with extreme circumstances such as nuclear, chemical and biological hazards, etc.
That’s it—the Urban Warrior top ten. Buy yourself just one book a week, and in less than three months you’ll have a fantastic library on personal protection that outstrips the next one-hundred collections owned by clueless morons who will more or less buy anything with a picture of Bruce Lee on the front cover. I know many of the books I’ve listed are ‘old’ but the old books are often the best; modern publishing is all about appearance, and as a result modern books are often glossy, attractive pieces of crap with very little serious content. If you want real knowledge, you have to go old school.
But you don’t necessarily have to spend this money if you have access to the internet and a printer. If you don’t have the cash to spend, I’d advise you to find out as much information as you can that exists on the ‘net on the Ten Skills. The Urban Warrior’s Bible will tell you what you need to know. You never know when you’ll have access to the web or not, so I’d advise you to buy a solid folder and print out the information you need, even if it’s only a snippet of something useful. This method is not only virtually free, but it will also force you to systematize your knowledge.
What are you waiting for? Knowledge is power, my friend.
*(NB: If you research this book, be warned; the sequel to this work—The SAS Urban Survival Handbook—is not about urban survival as The Urban Warrior understands the term. Instead, it’s concerned with domestic and industrial health and safety, with a few self-defense tips thrown in. It's a worthwhile volume, but certainly not important enough to warrant a place on your top ten list.)