Worst MA Books

[David]

I'll buy anything... Most disappointing were: -

Women in the Martial Arts by Carol A. Wiley
- How MA saved me from suicide because I'm soft in the head etc.

Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body by whatever
- I think not.

Dragons Touch: Weakness of the Human Anatomy by Master Hei Long
- rofl at the picture sequences. The poseurs wear white silk pyjamas including full head cover. They look like a cross between virgin ninjas and Doctor Who's Cybermen (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/gallery/images/640/6k_1.html)

There is another book which by today's standards should be in my list but luckily I don't own it and can't remember much about the title except it was Keep Fit with Chinese karate and Tai Chi or something. "Please remember, this is not for fighting". I so laughed I had to read the whole thing.

Give me more sense than money; tell me what to avoid!

[Kuen]

Voice of the Wing Chun system (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0965749509/qid=1050498061/sr=8-7/ref=sr_8_7/104-0272754-6784742?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Moy Yat & Benny Meng.

The information on Wing Chun is very poor in both quality and quantity and most of the book is taken up with a description of some sort of money making scheme involving "Special Students".

[PHILBERT]

Ashida Kim.

[Shaolin-Do]

lofl
I didnt even have to look to know what that was, but I did just to reassure myself. :)

[ewallace]

I find it somewhat Ironic that the book on Shaolin Do had no image available. :)

[FatherDog]

Originally posted by ewallace
I find it somewhat Ironic that the book on Shaolin Do had no image available. :)

Heh. If you looked up Kurt Cobaine in the imdb, it used to come up with a "No headshot available" icon where they put photos.

They've since changed it to "No photo available"... spoilsports.

[Mojo]

Untraditional Hsing-I
by Robb Whitewood


this guy has no clue about internal coordination.

[jun_erh]

http://kindleyfamily.com/fc9e1425.jpg

[KC Elbows]

My god, I'm goin to hell for laughing so hard at that. That kids ****ed up for life.

[Waidan]

Of my books, I find the Robert Smith ones the least usefull. You know those little orange ones on Pa-Kua, Hsing-Yi, and lord knows what else. imho, they are weak, weak stuff.

[The Yellow Dart]

"Skills of the Vagabonds" by Dr. Leung Ting -
Shoddy quality, and what little MA is in there is laughable. The rest is cheesy magic tricks and stealth tips. I found it while moving a few months ago, and couldn't believe I hadn't thrown it away.

"Pai Lum Tao: The Way of the White Dragon" by Glenn C. Wilson -
Bad illustrations (how many copies of a muscle-bound-scimitar-swinging-long-haired barbarian drawing does a single book need? The same drawing.), bad photos, and scores of pages on why the art and it's top practitioners are so awesome. And if you happen to forget that Cynthia Rothrock and Don "the Dragon" Wilson are both Pai Lum Tao adherents, don't worry - the book reminds you every 10 pages or so.

[Richie]

Seven star monkey kung fu The book looks handmade and the content is crap.

[Internal Boxer]

the mother of all sh.ite has to be Paul Dong's "Empty Force". Go check out the Amazon web site and look for the comments on this book, guess Mr Dong has been busy with his fake supporters just like his fake MA.

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1852307838/ref=pd_sim_books_3/104-5769203-9280734?v=glance&s=books

[Crimson Phoenix]

OMG big friggin' time LMAO

Check this review, if you haven't done it yet:

Reviewer: A reader from Lexington, KY
To all the skeptics out there, did you know Grandmaster The has a statue at the Shaolin temple? Put up by the Abbot as his recognition of Grandmaster The's authenticity? Did you know the older monks at Shaolin stand in awe and amazement as Shaolin-do students perform fighting forms they haven't seen in years? Did you know that Shaolin-do has stone tablets at most of the Shaolin temples in China? Would they let a Tae Kwon Do guy show up out of no where and put up a statue or tablet outside their temple doors? Do you think they would do these things lightly? ENOUGH SAID. Buy the book, folks, you may learn something...

oohhhh now I'm a believer ROFLMAO

[Radhnoti]

Unless I'm mistaken...there actually IS a taekwondo school with a tablet at the shaolin temple.

:o

I don't think SD uses the tablet as a marketing tool, though I wouldn't put it past 'em.

[Shaolin-Do]

Lofl...
in all honesty,
Tae kwan do, karate... several schools have tablets :)
its a 1500$ donation to put one up..... ;)

[JusticeZero]

Capoeira: African Brazilian Karate (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1564111105/qid=1050623579/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-6514287-8032129?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
*retches* I actually have a copy, but only out of a wierd obsession to be a completist.

[jun_erh]

Paul Dong's book on Qigong is actually pretty good. But, he has written alt about stuff like the kid who can read with his ear and chinese bigfoot and stuff. Psychic stuff. No surprise to hear Rich Mooney is his top student.

Interesting that Robert W Smith appears in both the best and worst threads. I have both thse little range books, but dn't knw enough about hsing-i or pakua to pass judgement on them, ther than it's pretty hard to tell what it's about with no applications shown. Dude is kind of a snob

[Brad]

Speaking of RW Smith, what's the name of that book he wrote under a pen name as a joke?

[David]

The only Robert W. Smith book I have read is the one I like so I don't know any more than that.

I do have the Empty Force book. It's not in my list cos Dragon's Touch is worse:D To be honest, I forgot about it "out of sight, out of mind".

btw jun_erh - you have relatively high concentrations of retinal rods and cones in your ear lobe and in your finger tips. I have practised telliing colour through my fingertips and at one time was able to go through a whole deck of cards telling black suits from reds.

lmao at African Brazilian Karate!

-David

[jun_erh]

The Way of the Warrior was the joke book by RW Smith as John Gilby. The phtos of him as John Gilby are in Martial musings. I read some of Way of the Warrior. It was funny. It was a collection of stories, I remember one about a guy who the chang seng feng of the Bronx or something. I can't remember why, but he would like not eat for a month than gorge himself all day. And like not shower for a month, etc.

That's interesting about the retinal lobes.