Esoteric Warriors

Rating:
Summary: In the footsteps of R.W. Smith
Review: I was tempted to give this book 5 stars just to balance out the one star average, but four stars would be fair. When I was a teenager I loved reading RW Smith, especially his "Chinese Boxing : Masters and Methods ". I feel that this book is a good continuation in that tradition. Yes, no secret techniques explained in minute detail,fair enough, so if you are looking for a teach yourself guide this is not the book for you. The stories reflect the authors love for his subject matter,relate his meetings with remarkable teachers and transmit some of the flavour of their teachings. To me this was more than enough to make it a wonderful read. I have reread it several times and each time it makes me want to pack my suitcase and head off for another adventure.I'm looking forward to reading the author's second book.

Rating:
Summary: May not be worth it... buyer beware!
Review: This is not a book that teaches techniques, principles, etc. It is merely a book which brings the vast experiences of the various teacher/mentors/friends, who have helped/taught the author in Martial Arts.

Also the chapters are not well structured, i.e. each chapter is a story/anecdote of the mentor(s). This would have been better if the principles of that particular MA or mediation, etc, been discussed in conjuction. This is as the audience would not know what particular lesson is this chapter refering to.

For a better read, i suggest, B K Frantzis, "The Power of Internal Martial Arts: Combat Secrets of Hsing Yi, BaGua and Taiji."