Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Shaolin Five Animals by Doc-Fai Wong ISBN: 0-86568-080-9 Publisher: Unique Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 1987 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.36 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good basic book on Five Animals, but needs much, much more
Comment: I have trained in Five Animals for 15 years and taught the art for five. I consider this book to be a good basic introduction to this style of kungfu, but it needs a LOT more info to be considered a martial arts masterpeice. #1. To get very much out of this book, you really need a good bit of prior martial arts experience, preferably a kung fu style. #2. The book really needs more explanation. The transitions to each move are not descibed in enough detail and a whole lot more self defense is needed. In fact, much of the self defense shown in the book is a cover up for the real moves that the Chinese masters intended. Overall, it is a great intro to 5 animals, but it needs much much more to be considered a great work. As far as an overview of the five animal essences, well, it rates a B- with me.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good book, but Seriously Uneven Muscle Development
Comment: I am a black belt in Kempo, and TKD with an Instructor Sash in Kung Fu who learned the whole form as best as I could from just using the book. I found it clear and easy to follow. It took a couple of months to learn, after which I ordered Doc-Fai Wong's instructional video on the same 5 animal form later. I found that I'd done a fairly decent job on learning the form by book. I'd missed about 10% of it, which were mostly circling movements transitioning from one step to the other. One problem I had, which eventually led me to discontinue practicing the form is that it's seriously unbalanced. If you practice it regularly, you will have very uneven muscle development, especially in your legs. There is a big stress on jumps and standing on one leg using your right only. To alleviate this problem, you'd have to learn how to do the whole form with the opposite side and if you are just starting, it could easily take you half a year to learn this extremely long form both ways. Once you do learn it, it'll take you about 12-14 minutes to practice it just once on each side. To become really proficient at learning a martial art form, you should practice it several times each session. For a form such as this one, you would need a significant time committment to practice enough to do it justice. If you like to train in other ways such as running, weights, other martial arts, etc., be prepared to commit a lot of time.
Rating: 2
Summary: Decent demonstration of the form
Comment: This book seemed more geared towards learning a form, and introducing the "Five Animals" principles, than presenting an entire art. However, the form itself is fairly complex, as it is in essence five different forms strung togeather in a logical manner. The first chapter is just a couple of pages long, giving a brief history on developement of Chinese fighting specific to the animals style. The following five chapters detail the five animals one by one: the dragon, tiger, snake, crane, and leopard, with no apparent order. Those chapters cover the physical and mental/spiritual/psychological characteristics of the different styles. Then there is a short chapter on the stages of learning the form, and finally a chapter showing the complete form. I'd say that this part was pretty easy to follow, with the main problems being that some possitions were only shown from behind. Each photo has text describing it's actions underneath it. It is an eye-opening and physically challenging form, and is great at least for developing ballance and endurence. The last chapter shows applications of some of the movements. All in all, I'd say that someone with a background in most striking arts ought to be able to grasp what's going on. The chapter on the form itself is the meat of the text, with the rest of the book being a good intro into the Five Animals form, but nothing extrordinary stands out to me.
 |
Title: Choy Li Fut Kung Fu by Doc Fai Wong, Jane Hallander ISBN: 0865680620 Publisher: Unique Publications Pub. Date: 01 September, 1985 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
 |
Title: Tiger-Crane Form of Hung Gar Kung-Fu (Literary Links to the Orient) by Bucksam Kong, Gregory Lee ISBN: 0897500873 Publisher: Ohara Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 1983 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: Art of Shaolin Kung Fu: The Secrets of Kung Fu for Self-Defense Health and Enlightenment (Tuttle Martial Arts) by Wong Kiew Kit ISBN: 0804834393 Publisher: Tuttle Publishing Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: Hung Gar Kung-Fu by Bucksam Kong, Eugene H. Ho ISBN: 0897500385 Publisher: Ohara Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1973 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: The Complete Book of Shaolin: Comprehensive Program for Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Development by Wong Kiew Kit ISBN: 9834087918 Publisher: Cosmos Pub Inc Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
