Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense

Rating:
Summary: A few comments
Review: Compared to the books out now on kung fu this book probably wouldn't rate much of a mention if it weren't for the fact that it's Lee's first published work, at least in the west. It gives a basic overview of kung fu, including some philosophy, exercises, basic style info, and a number of techniques. As far as technical knowledge goes, probably the most interesting thing there is the photo sequences showing Lee defending against multiple assailants, which are good.

But at just under 100 pages, it's small although the overall quality for the time was probably pretty decent considering this was probably one of the few books in English on kung fu at the time. But by current standards it's more than a bit on the light side. Even so no doubt Bruce Lee fans will want to acquire the book to have a complete collection of his works, since he only wrote six or seven books.

Probably the most interesting thing about it is Lee says the material and techniques in the book derive from the period before he started studying Wing Chun. In that sense the book is more important for its historical value in showing an earlier phase of Lee's kung fu development. Danny Inosanto also said Lee had studied northern long fist and learned all the empty-handed forms there (of which there are about a dozen), so this material could have been drawn from that.

Many of the photos are a little dark and lacking in contrast but they're still viewable and not bad. You can still see what's going on. But they're not up to the quality of more recent books.

One thing Lee says that still resonates today is his statement that a good martial artist will take all the knowledge that he's acquired and simplify it to get the true, distilled essence of the art. At the most advanced levels, the principles and techniques then become "simple" after being "complicated." Of course, it takes a very advanced and knowledgeable martial artist to be able to see and accomplish that, and perhaps most of us will never get to that point, but Bruce Lee did, which is why he was and still is one of the greats.

By the way, many people aren't aware that Lee combined both karate and kung fu techniques (not to mention Indonesian Pentjak Silat, which most people in this country have still never heard of, although there are at least 300 different styles), so his style is truly synthetic and eclectic. However, because of that many traditional and classical kung fu masters don't consider Lee a true kung fu practitioner. Whether that is true or not I leave up to the reader to decide, although Lee himself once stated that, "There is nothing traditional in my kung fu."

So overall, not a bad book for its time although at this point it looks sort of old-fashioned and dated and will probably be mostly of interest to amateur martial arts historians like myself or serious Bruce Lee fans.

Rating:
Summary: Not a book for a beginner
Review: If you collect Martial Arts books or books on Bruce Lee, buy it and put it on your shelf. It does show what Bruce thought in his early career of martial arts. And it has good diagrams. The book is short for its price. This book is not really an introduction and it would prove non-beneficial to a beginner. I would suggest that if you are new to martial arts, put this book down and chose any other.

Rating:
Summary: classic!
Review: The technique is the distil of Wing Chun - self defence with attack

Rating:
Summary: Historical rather than authoritative
Review: This book should not be considered as a complete or even accurate portrayal of the chinese martial arts. Originally published in 1963, it must have been one of the few books in print on "gung-fu" and novel at the time (if it ever sold significant copies). Witness the introduction written by James Y Lee (Lee's good friend) in which Lee is described as "one of the highest authorities in the Chinese Art of Gung Fu in the United States today." Compared with what is available today, this book is rather basic and idiosyncratic. There is some Chinese philosophy, a listing of styles, some waist and leg exercises. A larger part of the book consists of photographs of Lee demonstrating responses to various attacks by opponents - the usual fare of martial arts books. The book ends with a some apparently "filler" photos of Lee's visit to a karate studio. The book has a homemade, hodge-podge feel to it and would appeal to Bruce Lee fans.

Rating:
Summary: Historical rather than authoritative
Review: This book should not be considered as a complete or even accurate portrayal of the chinese martial arts. Originally published in 1963, it must have been one of the few books in print on "gung-fu" and novel at the time (if it ever sold significant copies). Witness the introduction written by James Y Lee (Lee's good friend) in which Lee is described as "one of the highest authorities in the Chinese Art of Gung Fu in the United States today." Compared with what is available today, this book is rather basic and idiosyncratic. There is some Chinese philosophy, a listing of styles, some waist and leg exercises. A larger part of the book consists of photographs of Lee demonstrating responses to various attacks by opponents - the usual fare of martial arts books. The book ends with a some apparently "filler" photos of Lee's visit to a karate studio. The book has a homemade, hodge-podge feel to it and would appeal to Bruce Lee fans.

Rating:
Summary: A taste of Bruce Lee's knowledge
Review: This book, though pretty short, does an excellent job of outlining Wing Chun's basics. The illustrations are well done and easily followed unlike so many other books of this type. The book is well worth the price if you are interested in Wing Chun.

Rating:
Summary: AMERICAN BOXE IS MUCH BETTER
Review: THIS BOOKS DOESN'T TALK THE TECHNIQUES OF THE WING CHUN KUNG FU. YOU ONLY USE YOUR HANDS IN FIGHTS THAT NOWBODY FIGHTS LIKE THAT. IF YOU WANNA LEARN HOW TO USE YOUR FISTS TRAIN YOURSELF IN AMERICAN BOXE. THIS BOOKS IS NOT A KUNG FU BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: A stage in Bruce Lee's development.
Review: This is a great book for a Bruce Lee fan. It constitudes the only book published by Lee during his lifetime. It includes excellent diagrams for streaching-excercises drawn by Lee himself! However, this book is not really an introduction and it would prove non-beneficial to a beginner. There are far better introduccions to martial arts or even Bruce Lee's art and I suggest you look at the Bruce Lee Library books for that. On the other hand, this book provides a great insight into Lee's early technique and thoughts on the martial way.

Rating:
Summary: Book is short for its price
Review: This is basically a step by step series of attack/defenses. It acts as a sort of overview of kung fu in about 50 pages or so.. so it misses a lot and is not in depth. The text is short so there is not much for the advanced student but it is not aimed at the beginner either. Spend [a little] more and get some book on Jeet kune do or a different kung fu book.

Rating:
Summary: the basic chinese self defence presented by:bruce lee
Review: this short but essensive book represent the self defence techniques of wing chun kung fu before bruce developed the jeet kune do.those techniques are traditionally from wing chun.there are effective but some of them need a teacher ,and some can be easy to follow alone.anyway it is a very good and practical book. recommanded!