Books by Phillip Starr

[P. Starr]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

[P. Starr]

Actually, there was another thread regarding the book but it seems to have vanished-

One of the members asked if I had once been the Chairman of the AAU Chinese Martial Arts Committee and I told him that, yes, it was me- from 1991-95.

And this is my first book that has been published-

Anyway, I'm very pleased that you enjoyed it!

[neilhytholt]

It's pretty inexpensive, but maybe Sifu Starr could you make it searchable so we could at least view the table of contents and get an idea of what it's about?

[P. Starr]

If you go to North Atlantic Books on the internet, they have an excerpt from the book and the Table of Contents. If you have any difficulty, let me know and I'll try to post the TOC here-

[neilhytholt]

If you go to North Atlantic Books on the internet, they have an excerpt from the book and the Table of Contents. If you have any difficulty, let me know and I'll try to post the TOC here-

Thanks very much! I'll check that out.

[P. Starr]

Let me know what you think!

[neilhytholt]

I read through the first two chapters.

It's interesting because at this time in my life I'm tired of kung fu teachers who want you to do everything their way. I've pretty much given up on that approach. In fact, I've pretty much given up on teachers.

Honestly, it's not that I don't want a teacher that pushes me, it's that I'm tired of the 'do it this way' thing. 'My way or the highway'. Every new teacher wants you to do it their way, study their forms, etc. Well what if you already have 10-20 years of training? Just throw it away? It's a waste of time if you move around or don't want to train with the same person forever.

I have a hard time finding teachers who will work on what I want to work on. For example, I currently want to train with staff, but I cannot find anybody who fights with staff. The MMA places don't fight with staff.

Yet, at the same time I lack a lot of motivation for martial arts practice, because I don't think I will ever use it. Does that make sense? When will I ever fight a high level fighter bare-handed in my life? Probably never. If I get attacked by a random person they'll probably have a gun, not attack me with fists.

So it's kindof a double-edged sword. At the same time I hate the training methods of the current teachers, I'm not that prepared for a real fight, but at the same time I probably will never get into one, so there's not much point.

So this book is kindof like a weird thing, because if I had a teacher like yours when I was younger, I would have worked hard, etc. But now, I wouldn't really want a teacher like that. In fact, I'd probably tell him to shove off. Make sense?