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Rating: 
Summary: wax on wax off
Review: I hold the same opinion as some of the earlier reviewers. This book is an editors nightmare with poor writing structure and repeating information. The author does quote himself in his own book which is very egotistical. How many authors qoute themselves in their own books? A real martial artist is humble not an ego maniac. There are much better kata books out there than this one and if you really want to learn katas the best way is to have an instructor teach you. It is like reading about boxing and then going to try and box someone which is a big mistake. Same goes for katas. You can read about it but can you do it?
Rating: 
Summary: A Kata guide book
Review: Mr.Craig's book gives an indepth explanation of the theory, application, and multiple levels of learning associated with karate kata. A long time student of both Japanese and Okinawan martial arts, Mr. Craig's decades of experience shine through in this book. The illustrations are drawn very well, and illustrate the points he makes very clearly. If you thought that kata was just step, punch, kick, and block then this book will change your mind. For the beginner or advanced student this book has something for everyone in it.
Rating: 
Summary: Knee deep in it
Review: No question that Craig is a knowledgeable dedicated martial artist. The book however is a mess. Indeed, it is poorly written, edited and executed. Which in of itself, would be excusable if the book provided the "goods" so to speak. It doesen't. It does convey that the author suffers a bit of the "supreme grandmaster" affliction/delusion though. Find it used and gleen what you can from it. Not a top ten choice for kata research.
Rating:
Summary: a detailed, thinkers look into kata
Review: Positives: the authors provide a fairly clear distinction between various types of "applications" of movement sequences in kata (bunkai, oyo, henka, and kakushi), as well as strong arguments for the importance of classical (as opposed to sport and performance) kataNegatives: this book needed a really good editor. Poor grammar, typos, unnecessary repetitive passages, descriptions and diagrams that don't match up... all detracted from the message of this book. In summary, there are some wonderful conceptual gems in here, but they are obscured by the flaws. Still an informative book and one I found useful for its concepts, but could have been so much better!
Rating:
Summary: An Editor's Nightmare
Review: The book is ok, but it does have a few major errors:
1. It is a total grammatical nightmare.
2. A lot of the sections repeat the EXACT SAME information! I kept thinking I had already read a certain chapter, when it turns out they just repeat themselves!
3. Darrel Craig must have one big ego. At the beginning of each chapter, he has quotes from famous martial artists, i.e. Musashi. However, at one point, he quotes HIMSELF. How egotistical is it when someone quotes his/her self in their own book!?
4. The explanations and analogies are not well formulated. The book does contain relatively interesting concepts, but it merely scrapes over the surface of the book. Henka, one of the four elements of kata that is talked about, gets a ONE paragraph explanation. No only is this paragraph SOLELY an analogy (NO explanation), but the analogy hardly makes any sense! I was disappointed- it seemed like I was going to learn a lot of the four main elemts of kata, and while these elements were listed, only two recieved any in depth discussion (Bunkai and Kakushi). Oyo was talked about quite a bit, and Henka was hardly even covered, except for the vague confusing analogies. If the book was meant to cover a wider variey of material, I would have understood. But the purpose of the book was to discuss these specific four elements- and the discussion is grammatically flawed, repetitive, and contains ambiguous analogies and confusing explanations. I would recommend borrowing the book from a friend so you can at least (somewhat) familiarize yourself with the terms and concepts, but save your money.
Rating:
Summary: The missing brick of a very important foundation in karate
Review: Watching people on tv showing off with various kicks and jumps can be very impressing, and you can enjoy it like watching a dance. However, in real life, few of these "dances" have much value, and the real "dance" is something you rarely see anymore.
The real "dances" I am referring to, are the ancient kata's which are the basic foundation in martial arts. They do not show those on tv, because they are not about impressing flying kicks and other entertaining movements, but can seem borring to the audience who do not understand the meaning of them. Darrell Craig does a very good job making you understand what a kata is, and why it is so extremly important that every martial art teacher should teach their students the ancient kata's and their bunkai's. This is one book that I am glad I bought.
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