Iaido books

[Tiger Ed]

I asked some people to reccomend some Iaido books to me, so I can increase my knowledge of its Philosophy, History and its various techniques. I was reccomended by a good source for the below books, how do you rate them?

Nicholas Suino: The Art of Japanese Swordsmanship: A manual of Eishin-Ryu Iaido.

Gordon Warner & Donn F Dreager: Japanese Swordsmanship

[A. Bakken]

Warner/Draeger is the closest there is to a standard text on the subject. Other books - I'm currently reading Dave Lowry's Autumn Lightning, which I strongly recommend. Actually, many would tell you to pick up *any* book written by either Draeger or Lowry - which is not at all a bad suggestion.

As far as techniques are concerned, you should bear in mind that practically any technical manual will be school-specific, such as the Suino title you mentioned (Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu). Personally, I haven't found that much use for the technical books - I browse through them and pick up some interesting details here and there, but the bulk of the learning has to be done in the dojo. For a general overview, check out the Koryu Bujutsu books edited by Meik and Diane Skoss.