The Art and Science of Fencing

Rating:
Summary: A must read for every fencer
Review: I always recommend this book to new fencers and none of them have been disappointed. The information contained is fundamental to choosing the style of fencing a person might want to pursue. Nick Evangelista uncovers the differences in technique, styles, and philosophies. One of the best reasons to buy this book is to read the author's opinions of the two most deliberated styles of fencing, classical and modern. Become informed of your choices before you let others determine your destination for you. Nick explains his reasoning behind his opinions and lets you choose for yourself. He has fenced both styles and is talking from experience.
Your weekly lessons will be easier to retain when you come home to this instructive book. You will be taken from the basic en garde position and footwork all the way to the bout and beyond. He encourages you to analyze your own fencing actions and understand why they succeed or fail.
The practical information contained in this educational book is interwoven with his personal experiences. This makes for very interesting reading, quite contrary to the boring technical manuals of old. His respect for his past fencing master, the late Ralph Faulkner, plants the seeds for new fencers to develop reverence for their own club's maestro. In a world that can sometimes seem chaotic, fencing brings about order, and Nick Evangelista's book will ensure that you are informed, educated, and on fire for fencing!

Rating:
Summary: Financial trader takes up fencing...what a mistake :)
Review: As a futures trader and the author of three books on futures trading, I thought I might pick up fencing to hone my mental skill. What a mistake! For the first time in my life I became utterly disgusted with my performance and had no way to focus on this game of mental chess. (Plus I'm lazy, after markets are closed)

Then my instructor recommended I read this book. Sure enough I fell in love with Mr.Evangelista passionate discourse on the history of fenicing. Plus he goes indepth to why people choose the weapons they do and completely compares and contrasts classical and modern fencing. In this book no stone goes unturned. I was happy to have read the book and I may complete the rest of my 8 week beginner course after all.

Thanks Mr.Evangelista for renewing the passion I had when I decided to try out the sport.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: The best book on fencing.

Maestro Evangelista truly brings life to the art and science of fencing in this book. True, he presents the art of fencing as it should be as opposed to the state of modern day fencing, but how is that wrong?

Without exposure to Maestro Evangelista's views on fencing, I personally would have no love for the sport. I would have found it dry and ultimately foolish. I credit him with instilling in me the fencing spirit, the thing that is hard to explain yet drives me to continue fencing. Without the truth of fencing as a martial art, what is there to separate fencing from more meaningless sports like football and basketball?

Face it, the flick is crap on a stick. It has no bearing whatsoever on the art of the sword and anybody who says otherwise is just kidding themselves. A system that allows this as a valid touch is inherently flawed.

A true fencer has respect for the art of fencing and its origins as a martial art as it relates to a duel, not as a ridiculous sport where people whack each other with glorified TV antennas that have buttons on the end to light up a scoring machine. Maestro Evangelista brings life to an otherwise empty sport.

By keeping his ideals in mind, I can stomach modern day fencing as a means to a greater art form as I hope that in the future the sport regains its origins in the art of the duel.

If it is not already obvious, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Subjective
Review: I found this book to be informative but I found it to be very subjective. I have been a fencer for 10 years and read many books on fencing and found this book to contain biased opinions about modern fencing, especially regarding the pistol grips and flicks. One can deny all they want on how obsurd it is but then don't devote a whole chapter on it. By the way, the last reviewer from NY, I believe there are differences between a chatroom and a message board even my 10 year old nephew knows that. I also belong to one where we have well known fencers come and discuss/post various topics including tournament, strategy, equipment, directors etc perhaps you should look into it instead of dimissing it as place for unintelligent people. I might not totally agree with the California reviewer but he/she has some valid points. Carradine of fencing, now that's funny!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Writer on the Art and Science of Fencing
Review: I have never written a book review before, but I just read one review regarding Nick Evangelista's ART AND SCIENCE OF FENCING that bugged me, and although the Maestro's work needs no defense by me, it still made me want to write this.

I have read and reread THE ART AND SCIENCE OF FENCING, and every time I have found something new to enlarge my understanding of fencing. His writing is never textbooky. It makes fencing interesting and accessible.

The author of a negative review -- the one that inspired me to write this -- said that the Maestro's views are out-of-date, and that he is held in ridicule by those who populate fencing chat rooms on the internet. I personally would consider this a compliment. Does any intelligent person on this planet believe that internet chat rooms have anything to offer in the way of truth or insight? This particular reviewer, who didn't even have the wherewithall to identify himself, goes on to remark somewhat lamely that Maestro Evangelista "is only a legend in his own mind." This is blatantly untrue, as the maestro goes out of his way in his writing to be down-to-earth, often showing how hard it was for him to learn to fence, and he often does this with a sense of humor. He is more than honest in this way. He never comes off as pompous or lofty. Moreover, I have met many, many people in fencing who hold him and his work in the highest regard. And I have heard from a number of sources that THE ART AND SCIENCE is the bestselling fencing book of all time, a feat in itself. He is a legend, and he deserves to be. At the very least, he puts his name on what he writes, and he stands behind it.

I will end my review by saying that I recommend all of the Maestro's books.

Rating:
Summary: A sound, honest book on fencing!
Review: I have read Nick Evangelista's book The Art and Science of Fencing through and through a number of times, and have never encountered a shread of arrogance in it. It is a sound, honest book on fencing. It is, in fact, the best written fencing book I know of. It is a very "human" fencing book.

Evangelista displays a thorough knowledge of fencing. He says nothing without backing it up with the logic of traditional fencing. His love of fencing can be felt on every page.

I have fenced off and on for forty years in the U.S. and abroad, and so do not come to the subject as a beginner. Moreover, I know many longtime fencers, and fencing masters, who share Evangelista's views and respect his thoughts on the subject.

It is interesting that the previous review is another anonymous
attack. It is easy to throw rocks from the darkness. I do not envy Nick Evangelista his position in the modern fencing world. He definitely has a bull's eye painted on his forehead.

I recommend The Art and Science of Fencing. I also recommend The Inner Game of Fencing. And I say this without arrogance.

Rating:
Summary: If you are, want to be, or know a fencer, BUY THIS BOOK!!!
Review: This book is a dream come true for ANYONE who has ever had an interest in fencing! Evangelista explains every aspect of the sport, including the history, in a format that ANYONE can understand! Evangelista is perhaps the world's foremost expert on classical fencing, and his years of experience really come through in this book. This is by far the best fencing book I have ever come across in my fencing career. I attribute 100% of my recent gold medal in the Iowa state novice tournament to the personal teachings of Nick Evangelista. Anyone who can't see this book as the masterpiece it is should read it again, because they obviously missed something!

Rating:
Summary: One of the very best fencing books in print today!
Review: From an abhorance of pistol grip weapons to an unyielding bent for the classical French fencing style, the author of "The Art and Science of Fencing," Nick Evangelista, comes across as a fencing master of strong likes and dislikes. But most of all, his love of fencing shines through the pages of this very appealing book. This translates into a volume that is at once a highly useful teaching tool and an entertaining read. A must for fencing students with brains. The only thing that could have made this book better would have been more illustrative photos

Rating:
Summary: no proof
Review: Writing a decent book takes a lot of time and effort. Active, top-level coaches are generally too busy with the business of coaching (training their club/team, travelling with fencers to tournaments) to have time to write books. Thus, fencing books have a tendency to be either retirement projects by those who are winding down their involvement with active coaching, or written by people who really aren't participating at a high competitive level at all. Either way, the net result is that fencing books tend to be a little (or a great deal) out-of-date at the time they are published. Obviously promoting the book by his friends, students and HIMSELF on various internet websites that sell books may help with his sells figures.

With that being said, there are better books out there Rudy Volkman's book are indeed far better the Mr.Evangelista's and also Aladar Kogler's books. I also completely agree that while Mr.Evangelista claims to have produced champions on his books and his website, he has failed to mention even one single name. I think it's safe to say, that if Mr.Evangelista had produced some champions, he would have mentioned them in his books specifically. But I wouldn't be suprised if he comes back and says, that's not what classical fencing is all about. He claims that he produced champions so you can't really make that argument stick. As it is, he writes about the people that his teacher Ralph Faulkner produced.

Rating:
Summary: Pass on this book
Review: Do all Nick's disciples all sound the same? Go ahead and read all the reviews that favor this book. It's like they make this second rate teacher some sort of a god. Always arrogant, I guess humbleness is not something Nick has not been teaching his disciples...if you read the reviews, it comes off being arrogant, calling other sports meaningless, bad mouthing modern fencing. Nick's standard method of arguing a point in print:

1. Make assertion.
2. Set up straw man in opposition to that assertion.
3. Flame away.
4. Get into copyright fight with Ann Coulter over who used a particular string of invective first.

This is what appreciating martial art is all about? Time and time again, you find his disciples trying to defend this guy. Only claim to fame is his teacher was Ralph Faulkner, has Nick even train any well known fencer? I am not talking about giving few classes to some beginner who later studies under a different coach or maestro, I mean someone he personally taught from beginning to his or her fencing career to a divisional title or the olympics? He makes quite a few claims about having been a fencing coach for 30 years, and having coached several champions. Does anyone know of any champions that credit Evangelista as having been the major influence on their fencing? Even any highly rated fencers? I think not!

His book at best gives a glimpse of the history of fencing and some basic knowledge of the sport but his book comes off being arrogant just like his "disciples." He, at best, is respected among non-fencers (who love reading about the notion of romanticized "classical fencing") and new fencers. Even among classical fencing community, Unlike Nick Evangelista, such classical fencing masters appears to have no need to "validate" their art by denigrating the character, motives, and competence of those who don't practice it. If you want to read a good fencing book read "Big Book of Fencing by Rudy Volkman."