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Title: Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods by Robert W. Smith ISBN: 1-55643-085-X Publisher: North Atlantic Books Pub. Date: June, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent
Comment: I read this book some years ago when it first came out, and thought it was excellent. The book is basically a chronicle of Smith's trip to the Orient and his encounters with a number of different masters with descriptions of their methods and ideas.
Smith's travelogue makes for an absorbing account, and he includes many interesting anecdotes and stories about the various masters he meets. It is not a picture book or instructional book in that sense, but more of a personal memoir.
It is also interesting in that it bears a strong resemblance to the books written by John Gilbey, a purported textile heir and martial arts master who also travelled the world meeting many intereting and unusual masters, and who returned to write about his experiences.
The writing styles are quite similar--both Gilbey and Smith like to pepper the text with quotes from their favorite writers--the main difference being Gilbey's experiences are probably fanciful. It is likely that Smith was writing under the pseudonym of Gilbey for these entertaining books, so you should take his accounts with a large grain of salt, lest you be taken in by Smith's engaging, conversational style and his fascinating stories.
To give you just one example of this, in the most recent of the three Gilbey books, unfortunately the title escapes me right now, but anyway, he describes an encounter with an Icelandic master who claims to use the energy of black holes to obtain fastastic power, and which occurs in a train station.
Well, there is no train system, or train station, in Iceland and never was one. The only thing that ever existed in the way of a train was a small-gauge railway that wasn't for passenger service and which I understand no longer operates.
To give just one more example, in one of the other books Gilbey describes a Pakistani art by the name of Fiz-Lez-Loo whereby the energy of the attacker's blow is directed and reflected by the adept back into the attacker. This expert asked Gilbey to strike him on the nose, but Gilbey instead punches him in the groin as hard as he can. Gilbey passes out and spends the next week in the hospital recuperating.
While I have been a martial artist and instructor myself for almost 40 years, having started studying when I was only 11, and have seen some pretty amazing things myself in that time, I am fairly certain that this art doesn't exist, and that it couldn't be developed.
That having been said, I think Gilbey's books are worth reading for their entertainment value alone, as long as you keep in mind my warning about maintaining a healthy dose of scepticism and don't take what he says too seriously.
Rating: 4
Summary: A good, personal book.
Comment: You may disagree with Smith, but he was there, and you weren't. :) This book has good personal accounts of Smith's encounters with some Chinese masters of various different martial arts. It is highly recommended, especially for the history involved in such a work. The 1-star deduction is because it isn't in Pinyin, and also beacause it is so thin!
Rating: 5
Summary: For those who want to learn more
Comment: Mr. Smiths book has been around for quite sometime now however, with the current popularity of Chinese Boxing in AMerica and much of the mystic that surrounds many of those who teach it. THis book presents in a very clear light just who the traditional CHinese Boxing MAsters really were and just exactly what their views were and are on the study of CHinese Boxing. Smith is impressed by the subjects of his book, and rightly so, however he dosen't become so engrossed with them that he falls prey to the depths of mysticisim. His observations are informative, educational and at times down right funny. This is far from a how to learn Tai Chi book, it is however a very educational read on true Chinese Boxing,
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Title: Hsing-I: Chinese Mind-Body Boxing by Robert W. Smith ISBN: 1556434553 Publisher: North Atlantic Books Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Pa-Kua: Chinese Boxing for Fitness & Self-Defense by Robert W. Smith ISBN: 1556434391 Publisher: North Atlantic Books Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Martial Musings: A Portrayal of Martial Arts in the 20th Century by Robert W. Smith ISBN: 1893765008 Publisher: Via Media Pub Co Pub. Date: 10 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: There Are No Secrets: Professor Cheng Man-Ch'Ing and His Tai Chi Chuan by Wolfe Lowenthal ISBN: 1556431120 Publisher: North Atlantic Books Pub. Date: June, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Pa-Kua: Eight-Trigram Boxing (Chinese Martial Arts Library) by Robert W. Smith, Allen Pittman, Allan Pittman ISBN: 0804816182 Publisher: Charles E Tuttle Co Pub. Date: December, 1990 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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