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Tuesday 18 February 2014

Ninjas - 1,000 years of the shadow warriors

As part of my ongoing research I have started putting together a list of books to read during 2014. Not necessarily zombie related but touching on the human perspective of survival.

The first one down is John Man's Ninja - 1,000 years of the shadow warriors. I mean who can resist ninjas, they are almost as cool as zombies! Besides the book was on display in the library.

This isn't a "how to manual", far from it. It is about the history and philosophy of the shinobi. And it is very different to Hollywood ninja movies and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ninjas were survivors. Staying alive and completing the mission was their priority.

To illustrate this, the final chapter is on Hiroo Onoda who kept on fighting World War Two in the Philippine jungle for 30 years. Onoda's drive to survive and carry on his mission exemplified the classic ninja ideals.

It is a good read, even if the focus is on the historical rather than the practical side of ninjas. It has also given me two more books to add to my list.


Bite off more than you can chew

Mr Rimsky

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