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Rating: 
Summary: Wise, but not easy to read
Review: Great how openly a chinese person suggests to view the advantages of western and eastern thinking and to aim for their integration. Decades of experiences in martial arts must back up the insights especially concerning the mind work. I got a glimpse how and trust that one can work on oneselve.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh! Philosophy Majors Only!
Review: I have no idea what the purpose of this book was. I kept reading it, hoping I would glean some insight, some guidepost,but it never happened. This book was terrible.Okay, if you're a philosophy major, maybe you'll get something from this book. But for a man of Western science, struggling to apprehend the subtleties of higher-order Eastern martial arts, this was of no benefit to me. Shi Ming asserts that we need to use Western science to more fully define Qi. He then admits that while technology is progressing, it is still not sufficient to this need. He implies that defining Qi scientifically will result in considerable benefit to humanity. Shi Ming talks about the history of China, particularly how the various political upheavals were detrimental to the transmission of Qi understanding through the generations. Shi Ming pulls out every big word he can think of, and uses them in repetitive tautological reiterative fashion, to state that the world must try and advance itself, enlighten itself. That understanding Qi is the key to overcoming political, religious, and philosophical barriers. Tidbits that I almost found useful: Shi Ming alleges that Qi is real. That it is something beyond the "zone" that professional athletes sometimes talk about. That it is beyond an instinctive ingraining of skills (such as Olympic boxers) from intense training. But he never quite tells us what he thinks it really is, and he never hints at how to develop or find Qi, except to find a good instructor. I'll match my education resume with anyone's. I'm no dummy. But I have to admit that sometimes I'll read philosophy and not even have a clue whatis being talked about. This book was like that. All I can tell was that Mr Shi Ming has some nice ideals for a better world, and that somehow he thinks Qi cultivation is the answer. But Higher Martial Arts? Too high. We're talking about World Peace, and all I want to do is become better at internal martial arts. Maybe this book would be good for that individual on the cusp of attaining enlightenment or sainthood. I'm not close to that, so it did me no good at all. Maybe if I reach that cusp, I'll try to re-read the book and see what I get out of it.... Nah.
Rating:
Summary: Ugh! Philosophy Majors Only!
Review: I have no idea what the purpose of this book was. I kept reading it, hoping I would glean some insight, some guidepost,but it never happened. This book was terrible. Okay, if you're a philosophy major, maybe you'll get something from this book. But for a man of Western science, struggling to apprehend the subtleties of higher-order Eastern martial arts, this was of no benefit to me. Shi Ming asserts that we need to use Western science to more fully define Qi. He then admits that while technology is progressing, it is still not sufficient to this need. He implies that defining Qi scientifically will result in considerable benefit to humanity. Shi Ming talks about the history of China, particularly how the various political upheavals were detrimental to the transmission of Qi understanding through the generations. Shi Ming pulls out every big word he can think of, and uses them in repetitive tautological reiterative fashion, to state that the world must try and advance itself, enlighten itself. That understanding Qi is the key to overcoming political, religious, and philosophical barriers. Tidbits that I almost found useful: Shi Ming alleges that Qi is real. That it is something beyond the "zone" that professional athletes sometimes talk about. That it is beyond an instinctive ingraining of skills (such as Olympic boxers) from intense training. But he never quite tells us what he thinks it really is, and he never hints at how to develop or find Qi, except to find a good instructor. I'll match my education resume with anyone's. I'm no dummy. But I have to admit that sometimes I'll read philosophy and not even have a clue whatis being talked about. This book was like that. All I can tell was that Mr Shi Ming has some nice ideals for a better world, and that somehow he thinks Qi cultivation is the answer. But Higher Martial Arts? Too high. We're talking about World Peace, and all I want to do is become better at internal martial arts. Maybe this book would be good for that individual on the cusp of attaining enlightenment or sainthood. I'm not close to that, so it did me no good at all. Maybe if I reach that cusp, I'll try to re-read the book and see what I get out of it.... Nah.
Rating: 
Summary: Very interesting but a hard read
Review: I liked the book. It attempts to make the case for an aproach between the modern science and traditional martial arts saying that both are complementary and necessary for a breakthrough in consciousness research. The book also proceeds to describe consciousness refining consciousness through internal martial arts. It is not a book that deals with technique or gives advice on internal arts. IMO, it is an interesting reading for the serious martial artist and scholar. It is a short book but hard to read due to long, flowery phrases.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting but a hard read
Review: I liked the book. It attempts to make the case for an aproach between the modern science and traditional martial arts saying that both are complementary and necessary for a breakthrough in consciousness research. The book also proceeds to describe consciousness refining consciousness through internal martial arts. It is not a book that deals with technique or gives advice on internal arts. IMO, it is an interesting reading for the serious martial artist and scholar. It is a short book but hard to read due to long, flowery phrases.
Rating:
Summary: From a TaiChi Player
Review: Pass on this one. It is poor philosophy and worse science. It's descriptions of what happens (or can happen) in martial arts training lack the poetry and even the clarity of the Chinese classics. Not one experiment. Not one case study. Looking for some help on how tai chi chuan works and how best to train, I did not find it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for the Advanced Internal Matial Artist
Review: This is an interesting discussion of consciousness and its integration and refinement as the key to developing higher martial arts. It reads like most philosophy books with very precise language. If you do not practice a chinese internal martial art you will probably not have the basic understanding needed to follow the authors train of thought properly. If you do, you need an understanding of meditation for concentration and for chi work(Qigong). Furthermore, an understanding of taoist, buddhist, confucian, and chinese medicine methods could only help. Although the author is attempting to interpret his thoughts into more modern scientific contexts I don't think most people are ready to understand this or will understand its importance. "...the purpose of imitating life is to use forms to refine consciousness, use consciousness to refine inner power, and use inner power to refine the mind and spirit, in search of pervasive integration; it is a type of biodynamic principle and technology for seeking the highest level of integration through returning all things to their root." (intro, 11) It is important and if you are ready this will be an excellent discussion.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for the Advanced Internal Matial Artist
Review: This is an interesting discussion of consciousness and its integration and refinement as the key to developing higher martial arts. It reads like most philosophy books with very precise language. If you do not practice a chinese internal martial art you will probably not have the basic understanding needed to follow the authors train of thought properly. If you do, you need an understanding of meditation for concentration and for chi work(Qigong). Furthermore, an understanding of taoist, buddhist, confucian, and chinese medicine methods could only help. Although the author is attempting to interpret his thoughts into more modern scientific contexts I don't think most people are ready to understand this or will understand its importance. "...the purpose of imitating life is to use forms to refine consciousness, use consciousness to refine inner power, and use inner power to refine the mind and spirit, in search of pervasive integration; it is a type of biodynamic principle and technology for seeking the highest level of integration through returning all things to their root." (intro, 11) It is important and if you are ready this will be an excellent discussion.
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