Martial Arts Books

[waya]

Anyone have any suggestions on books or authors dealing with the arts?

I like Lao Tse, Sun Tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, and the books written By Masaaki Hatsumi personally, there is also an excellent book on the samurai Ryu by Karl F. Friday called Legacies of the Sword : The Kashima-Shinryu and Samurai Martial Culture.

Rob

[ladyhawk]

The last book I read was The Mindset of a Martial Artist by Dean Clerc.

A friend of mine has an impressive personal library so I just borrowed...
Okinawan Karate,
The Secret Art of Tuite
by Javier Martinez

[Cooler]

One book of many that I recommend is 'Zen in the art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel'

Cooler

[Freeform]

I've heard the Steve Kaufman translation of 'The book of Five Rings' I think its gonna take me another ten years to fully understand it.

Anyone know of any good translations of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'?

[Silver_no2]

Originally posted by Freeform
Anyone know of any good translations of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'?

Yep! I've got a copy here in my flat. Bought it while I was on holiday in Thailand last year. Quite an indepth read so I'll give it to you for when you go to Wales.

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Freeform
I've heard the Steve Kaufman translation of 'The book of Five Rings' I think its gonna take me another ten years to fully understand it.

Anyone know of any good translations of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'?

Kaufman has a translation of "The Art of War" also. I started reading it and then I moved and it got lost in the shuffle. What I had read was very good.

For my 2 cents, I'd *highly* recommend "The Unfettered Mind: Writings from the Zen Master to the Sword Master"

It's a compilation of 3 essays by Takuan Soho (a contemporary of Musashi). It is *excellent*

Mike

[Chris from CT]

I enjoy Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and Sun Tzu's Art of War. If I had to recommend other books they would be...

Zen and the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams
It's and easy read and a great entry book for martial art philosophy.

Living the Martial Way by Forrest E. Morgan
Gives the reader a understanding of developing the proper martial art mindset in today's environment.

Martial Art Teachers on Teaching by Carol A. Wiley
It's a collection of essays from martial art teachers form different styles on teching more efficiently and making a positive effect on the student and yourself.

Ladyhawk, how was The Mindset of a Martial Artist by Dean Clerc?

Take care :)

[ladyhawk]

Chris,
Mindset of the martial artist was very good. Definitely worth reading. I got it from amazon.com I even bought an extra that I gave a friend for Christmas. If I remember correctly they have sample pages from that book that you can read online.

[pgm316]

Anybody recommend a good book for groundfighting, locks etc???

[Ti-Kwon-Leap]

The Essence of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is packed from front to back with locks, chokes and gi-less fighting techniques:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0865681945/103-4948523-5546265


Another great book I recommend is "What The Masters Know by Paul Maslak It's about the science and psychology of strategic fighting. its out of print but you may still be able to order it through Amazon or possibly Barnes and Noble:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865680019/inferroveritaint

If money isn't an issue the Gracies (Renzo and Royler) have a couple of good BJJ books available through Amazon as well but be prepared to spend $30-40 US.

[Cain]

The art of fighting without fighting

Just got it a few days ago, deals with the phsychological aspects of a fight, am enjoying it rite now :D

|Cain|

[TkdWarrior]

Sun Tzu "The art of War"
Lao Tze "tao Te ching"
BL "Tao Of JKD"
"the Book of Five Rings"
Gen Choi's Encyclopedia(my bible/koran/gita :D)
Farmer burns books on wrestling forget the name tho.
rex applegate's books on Self Defense
i hav other books on survival systems/information, camofaulauge(sp), and lot other books which i hav read n forgot :D
-TkdWarrior-

[Joe karate]

"Zen in the Martial Arts" by Joe Hyams is great evry time I read it.
Also i can vouch for "The Essence of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu". The tecniques taught are easy to understand. I liked its chokes/submissions as wrestling contains none.

[Mo Lung]

If you do a search online you'll find lots of versions of the old classics like the Tao Te Ching, Art Of War, etc. available as e-books, free for download.

Worth hunting around.

:)

[pgm316]

Is there any good public sites for the e-books, or is it a case of hunting them down?

[Jim]

Freeform said...
I've heard the Steve Kaufman translation of 'The book of Five Rings' I think its gonna take me another ten years to fully understand it.
You should try the Andy Kaufman translation (he he)

If you want a link to Hagakuri try this... http://www.chez.com/220665/hagakure.html

[YODA]

Ah - Hagakuri - haven't read that for a LONG time.

Has anyone read "The Embossed Tea Kettle"

[Ti-Kwon-Leap]

What's it about, Yoda?

[YODA]

It's a collection of "Zen writings" by Hakuin Zenji - 1685-1769

[Jim]

Gotta link?

[YODA]

Nope - sorry. I'ts pretty hard to get hold of.

[Ti-Kwon-Leap]

Thanks Yoda, I'm going to check it out.

http://www.krownspellman.com/cgi-bin/spellman/37090.html

[YODA]

Cool - don't blame me if it's rubbish :D

[Knight_Errant]

I know of one you can keep well clear of- John van Bloody weener and his crappy shotokan karate book. All unscrupulous mcdojo-owners everywhere recommend it and I HATE IT!!!!

[Marku]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0834804832/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/026-4388527-7202024

Does anyone know if thats a good book or others i could buy from Amazon about Hapkido and/or Tae kwon do

[thiaboxr2]

The Gracie Way by Kid Pelgro. Gives an illustrated history of the Gracie family and BJJ.

The Way Of The warrior by Howard Reid and Michael Croucher. Discusses various martial arts and a little history of each.

Filipino Martial Culture by Mark V. Wiley. As the title states.FMA history of the weapons, religion and some masters and their styles.


Filipino Fighting Arts, Theory and Practice. By Mark V. Wiley. As the title states, Various systems, their rankings, training along with illustrated practice.


These books give great insight to the FMA and MA in general.

[SoKKlab]

Marku,
I haven't seen a copy of that book, but have heard good things about his writing from people whose opinions I trust.

I don't have many books on Hapkido, but do have a copy of Hapkido (Practical Hapkido Textbook) by Master Choe.

Don't know if he (Choe) is rated as a practitioner, but the book is a good overview of the Basic/ not so Basic Techniques.

He's also done another book and a couple of Videos via his World Hapkido Association out of Washington State, USA.

Most of the other books I've seen on Hapkido are things like the Bong Soo Han book from twenty odd years ago, which are a decent enough overview.

If you buy the M. Tedeschi book could you let us know your opinion on it and whether you feel that it's worth laying out the money for?

[Marku]

the books im currently waiting for are 2 jeet kune do books, tao of jeet kune do and jun fan/jeet kune do - Scientific streetfighting :D

[wuchang79]

Helpful resource guides to MA's. check them out .

http://www.aimaa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv

[GigFuMan]

Marc Tedeschi's book is excellent. I highly recommend it. (Other than the fact that he's my Hapkido instructor.. so, I suppose I am a bit biased.)

But he presents the material in an honest, open way. I have a few Hapkido books, and that one is the best when it comes everything from technique, history, philosophy, etc).. it's got it all.

He just released a Taekwondo book as well featuring a lot of really great TKD people.

That's another very good book. I highly recommend it for Taekwondo folks out there.

[Chazz]

Here are some that i like.

Martial Artist:
1. Karate-Do - My way of like (by: Gichin Funakoshi)
Great to read about what this great person went through.
2. The Secret of Inner Strength - My Story (By: Chuck Norris)
I me Chuck's #1 fan so if you like him you will love this book.

Martial Arts:
1. Martial Arts Training In Japan - A guide of Westerners (by: David Jones)
Talks about the different types of martial arts in japen, how they started, and what they were/are like

Mental and Physical training:
1. Iron Body Ninja (by: Ashida Kim)

2. Complete Conditioning for Martial Arts (by: Sean Cochran)
Many Many work outs that help martial artist get and stay in shape.

OTHER:
1. Mastering The Art of War

2. Tao Teh Ching (by: Lao Tzu)
GREAT GREAT Book

[David]

I confess to being surprised to read Ashida Kim recommended.

I have the Steve Kaufman 5 rings which is good.

My Art of War is the one translated by Ralph D Sawyer and it's excellent; there is a large section on Chinese military history to set the scene before you get to the AOW itself.

After reading Way of the Warrior, I wished I'd seen the series and not bothered with the reading of it because it seemed a little shallow/hollow on paper

Not mentioned so far is Dr Jang Jwing-Ming's book on chin-na seems expensive at £18 but is actually fantastic as it catalogues (with loads of photos and instructions) a large variety of locks etc. I'd say it was a must-have.

One book I read over and over is Robert W Smith's Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods. It collects his training experiences (with plenty of anecdotes) from a lengthy period spent out in the Far East

Regards,
David

[littlebird]

Some books that are out of print can be still acquired through Amazon or Ebay.

Likeswise WinMX, and other filesharing avenues exist.

I particularly like the PDF versions for their flexibility.

[butterfly_knf]

>>posted by freeform
Anyone know of any good translations of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'?

If anyone still looking, try :

http://www.literatureproject.com

I've read it, it's pretty good.

[goatnipples2002]

The Comprehansive Applications of Chin Na by Dr.Yang

This book is the BEST martial arts book I have seen or read. (I've read every single MA book at borders and barnes& nobles, It took 2 days but the crazy thing, is they let you!) Alot of people complain because they say. "It shows the same techniques for different situations of defence", well anybody that studies an art for REAL combat, NOT sport/show (same to me) would understand that learning a few techs that can be applied to many situations goes along with the K.I.S.S. theory. Keep It Super Simple! I personally found 10 techniques that I would study because of there relative ease of application. I will add these to my current training curriculm. I feel chin na is what I have been lacking. This a good book I can only suggest that you get the videos as well. They are next on my list.

[goatnipples2002]

Originally posted by goatnipples2002
The Comprehansive Applications of Chin Na by Dr.Yang

This book is the BEST martial arts book I have seen or read. (I've read every single MA book at borders and barnes& nobles, It took 2 days but the crazy thing, is they let you!) Alot of people complain because they say. "It shows the same techniques for different situations of defence", well anybody that studies an art for REAL combat, NOT sport/show (same to me) would understand that learning a few techs that can be applied to many situations goes along with the K.I.S.S. theory. Keep It Super Simple! I personally found 10 techniques that I would study because of there relative ease of application. I will add these to my current training curriculm. I feel chin na is what I have been lacking. This a good book I can only suggest that you get the videos as well. They are next on my list.

BAD STUFF-
I read this book further and is sucks to a certain degree. It was confusing somewhat and DR.Yang was unorganized to say the least. I t contains over 150 techniques, but I found only about 10 to be totally street effective because of there ease to apply or they were too traditional and "fluffy". It was incomplete to a certain degree.

PLUS SIDE-
The pictures were relatively easy to follow and he had good insights that most books don't. It is still the best book I have read an MA techs.

If there are better PLEASE let me know.

[Sub zero]

I'm going to be buying this.http://www.wle.com//products/b1096.html
Ne body got it?