Dave Lowry's books

[A. Bakken]

I noticed that Amazon carries quite a number of titles by Dave Lowry. What titles would you recommend (and why)? I ordered Sword and Brush plus the Jodo book, but would consider other titles too. Feel free to tell me a little about your favourite Lowry book. :)

[fifthchamber]

Hello Mr. Bakken,
I would recommend them all. However, if you wanted only one or two I would choose "Autumn Lightning" and "Persimmon Wind"...They are great books...Persimmon Wind in particular almost makes me cry at its conclusion...Great stuff to read during a mournful winter evening..Or Autumn...And well worth the read. Autumn Lightning I got soon after...But it's a 'prequel' to Persimmon if you like...And both books are part history, part myth/legends, and part Mr. Lowry's own training history in Shinkage Ryu...Some great snippets of information and more than enough to please most sensible readers...And insensible readers too...;)
"Traditions" was also a great book but for starters I would stay with the above...I liked them immensely.
Enjoy!
Ben. (Pointing at the E-Budo book reviews page here:
E-Budo book reviews... (http://www.e-budo.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=12110&pagenumber=1) ....)

[Brian Owens]

In my youth I studied karate, but dropped out of the martial arts for a long time.

Autumn Lightning is what brought me back to the arts, and what lead me to choose swordsmanship. I list it among my top 10 favorite books on any subject.

I found Persimmon Wind too depressing, but I think a sense of enui was exactly what the author had in mind.

The "method" books, Bokken and Jo are interesting if you like to sample techniques of various disciplines, but are probably most interesting if you study that particular Way.

You can't really learn an art from a book, but you can learn about an art. That's why I like Autumn Lightning better than Jo; there's so much depth to it.

I haven't read Traditions or Sword & Brush, but they're on my reading list.

[David T Anderson]

Sword and Brush is probably my favorite Lowry book, and not just because my own sensei wrote the foreword to it. I bought my copy in Boulder Colorado after buying a bunch of stuff at Bujin, and read it over lunch at the local Applebee's restaurant. A 2.5 hour lunch... It's a fascinating meld of MA philosophy, Japanese culture and calligraphy and a whole bunch of other things.

Autumn Lightning and Persimmon Wind are also excellent, but then they all are. Get them all...it doesn't matter.

[Ronin055]

Moving towards stillness, and Autumn lightning are both on my shelf.. Each has its own merrits. Mr Lowry is a wonderful writer.

[Soulend]

I have them all except "Jo". Hard to pick a favorite - they are all great.