That being said, what the book does cover it does a good job of. The book starts with a good rendition of the Gracie family history, map of Brazil and a Gracie family tree. The book then has a snap shot of the important positions in BJJ like the mount, guard, knee on stomach, etc. The book is professionally done with very clear, but overly large photos on glossy paper. More techniques and smaller photos would have been nice.
The techniques range from the beginner to intermediate level. The book begins with several takedowns when your opponent punches, kicks, or attempts the guillotine. Each technique is demonstrated with clear black and white photos and is preceded by a paragraph of text explaining what is taking place in each of the photos. While the descriptions were accurate and clear it would have been nice to have more detailed explanations.
The rest of the moves are grouped roughly into techniques from the mount, cross side, knee on stomach, submission from the guard, passing the guard (only one way is shown), countering a shoot, and back mount submissions. All the moves demonstrated are realistic and solid BJJ. There just needs to be more of them.
For those who buy a lot tapes let's do the math on this book. You may have paid $3.97 per move for Ralph's tapes. If you were to attach this same price tag to this book it would have cost $107!!!!!! I got the Ralph book for $9 and paid .33 cents per move. For the beginner, this makes the book a kick-ass deal! For those who own lots of tape sets, you will not find much new here.