A couple further thoughts on aikido: I agree it fit beautifully into the themes of your book; my disappointment was that the stories probably aren’t true. And viewing history as it actually was is vital: “discriminating between what is fake and what is genuine,” as Maslow thought.

Most people who have some familiarity will real fighting and martial arts (and I do… and not just from Harris) are skeptical of the types of stories found in the book. To be fair, martial arts of all kinds -not just aikido- have the types of stories that make their art seem like the unqualified best. But aikido is a particularly bad offender and myth-maker. Even the video you link to is just a formal demonstration with teacher and student. When the teacher reacts to the formulaic attacks, of course, he can respond effectively. My point isn’t that aikido has no useful techniques or isn’t a worthwhile activity… just that its effectiveness as a real combat style (compared to others) is unproven at best. Your book demonstrates that aikido’s strength is in its philosophical insights (in other words, don’t go challenging any gangs of 30 people or trying to dodge bullets).

Uh, if ONLY I could have a career/life path like Cezanne – even a small scale version. I wasn’t just utilizing a rhetorical technique for the artists stories in my review. I really have thought a lot about how their arcs correspond to my situation. Uncertainty can force that introspection, I suppose. Whenever I feel any minor pings of Cezannian depression, I try to zoom out to his full biography or, better yet, think of Shackleton. If he and his team can get through that my problems start to seem less severe.

I just skimmed your link to Harris (who seems to be your favorite) and will re-read it more closely. But he (Harris) does seem to have taken an awfully easy case to make HIS point against the martial arts. That video of the old dude and his students participating in self-deception is devastating. yes, that’s a fraud. But here is the sort of Aikido I have witnessed:

That said, I almost certainly exaggerated the power of ki in aikido, because, well, it did fit so beautifully into that particular part of my narrative, didn’t it.

I’m now pondering all your other perceptive comments.

Oh, and yes, I think you’re probably more Cezanne than Picasso. Could be worse, couldn’t it?