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Title: An American's Journey to the Shaolin Temple by Steve Demasco, Raymond Horwitz, Janina Wilson, Steve De Masco ISBN: 0-89750-141-1 Publisher: Ohara Publications Pub. Date: May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00

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Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (3 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Things aren't as they seem,
Comment: Extremely fascinating to read.

Rating: 4
Summary: An honest opinion (read the whole thing)
Comment: I bought this book because I had read a bad opinion on amazon.com. I had read a previous article about Steve Demasco and his certification from the Abbott of the Shaolin temple. I was skeptical and I wanted to see for myself just how bad the book was.

The book lived up to my low expectations when I first saw it. It's a typical Ohara cookie-cutter book. The pictures are full body shots that are taken from a distance, which prevents you from seeing details, especially in the self-defense techniques, and the layout is unimaginative and predictable. I also found it hard to follow the "Iron Wire" form, which played such a pivotal role in his success at the temple.

But then I actually read the text. I was impressed with Mr. Demasco's sincerity. The little things that made him seem more real; like on the back cover where he lists his titles, there is a quote "These are titles I continue to earn." I particularly appreciated his retelling of his initial meeting with the Abbott of the Shaolin temple in ch.8. I was also struck by his honesty when he was reluctant to tell anyone about his certification. He was "certain that if this (certification) got out to martial artists, somehow they would find a way to discredit it."

I'm an experienced martial artist (I am not affiliated in any way with Mr. Demasco's system) with more than 15 years in the arts as well as a school owner. I have seen many fads in the arts and was skeptical of Mr. Demascos. But I found the book worth reading and even entertaining on a very human level. It's a story of his journey, successes, and mistakes. One that I think is easily relatable.

Although I would have appreciated some better technical pictures of his techniques, I feel it's a good addition to a martial artist's library. For it's human value, I gave it 4 stars.

Rating: 1
Summary: Not what I would expect from a Shaolin Master
Comment: Basically the author of this book is more of a kempo practitioner then a Shaolin master of the arts. The Chinese arts require a life time of dedecation and hard practice.
Mr. DeMasco in this book represents very poor stances and a very shallow input on the Chinese martial arts. When he executes a horse stance his butt sinks below his knees, which should never happen. In his crane stance his leg hangs straight down when it should angle slightly inward to protect the groin area. The Chinese cross stances are too elongated, which places unneeded stress on the knee joints. The back knee of the stance should be placed in the calf of the front leg to provide strength and stability in the stance. He also doesn't use proper stance names such as Chinese cross stance, Lady's Horse stance (Lor E'ge Ma). It seems he has had some training in Wah Lum Mantis and in black tiger, but not enough to be considered a Master in these arts.
As for his Shaolin certificate presented to him by Shi Yong-xin, all I can say is that money (if you have enough) can buy a lot of things.
Even some of the self-defense techniques (from a kempo standpoint) were executed poorly and wouldn't be the most effective of techniques.