http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0804816085/ref=lib_dp_TT01/104-810 6523-2154342?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader&img=3#reader-link

btw, has anyone read the book?

It is fiction. Almost a classic in some circles. A collection of tall tales about martial artists and other fighters. Thrown in is social commentary and a few comments about (occasionally) real fighters. This one of several fantasy works by Robert Smith under his alter ego.

i took a quick look in a bookstore. didn't buy it, tho' it might make a fun read on a rainy afternoon. didn't know it was R. Smith, but that makes a kind of sense to me.

bottom line: i'd read it for entertainment, nothing else. imho. best...

Robert Smith talks about his earlier books, and how he came up with the "John F. Gilby" alter ego in his latest book "Martial Musings."

btw, i meant no disrespect to mr. smith. it's just that this book which adrian mentioned seemed to me more entertainment than realistic instruction, imo--and i'd heard that smith also wrote under a nom de plume--hence my comment above. i'd still like to read it on a rainy afternoon.

i enjoyed smith's book on chinese boxing, that i read many years ago (i still have it). heard there of wm. c.c. chen before i met him. it was my first introduction to some things i've encountered later.

i also looked very briefly at "martial musings" which tim mentions, but didn't buy that either. with my budget, i have to limit myself to books that seem to offer specifically practical advice.
wish it were otherwise.

smith, particularly during the younger days of the influx of CMA, was a valuable writer, imo. so few at that point had any first hand acquaintance with CMA. of course i'm not saying i think he's not a valuable writer at this point.
it's just that so much more is available now (imo) which is more practical than anecdotal.

best...

anybody ever tried the chi kung exercise he talks
about in that book.if so how do it work.

well why dont you try them and find out???

# 143

Interestingly enough, Smith's work is the most down to earth without the embellishments frequently seen by those who write about martial topics.