I mentioned previously that Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo's new book, "Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey" was for sale.

I've had a chance to read the book, and I strongly recommend that anyone practicing Chinese Martial Arts, or anyone interested in CMA history buy a copy of this book.

The book is outstanding in every respect! There has been no other book like it published to date. This work is destined to become a classic in the field of CMA.

Thanks for the suggestion.
I just looked it up on the net and it is for sale in many locations including overstock.
I will check it out.
Thanks,
Dan.

Happy Holidays Tim,
Elizabeth and I want to thank you for the good words about the book. Hopefully people can get a better understanding of Chinese martial arts from the book. The more I am around Chinese martial arts the more I come to appreciate what they really are and what real benefits they can bring to people. In a crude sense what we were trying to do with the book was wash the bullshit off of the gold so to speak. The bullshit being all the nonsense that seems to be part and parcel of Chinese martial arts in modern times, with the gold being the great health and martial value of Chinese martial arts.

In any event glad you liked it and we got a copy to Luo Laoshi and Beth so they could see it. I also let Andy Wang know so he could see his name in lights.

On a side note, about 4 months ago Andy Wang moved back to southern California. So that was kind of a heartbreak for his students (including me!) but our loss is Cali's gain. He is re-starting his MMA career and had a great Pancrease fight (albeit a loss by decision) in Tokyo a couple of weeks back.

Take care and thanks again,
Brian

Tim, I've been lurking on your forum for years and based on your recommendation above I immediately ordered a copy from amazon.com as a Christmas present for my son.

Thanks,
John

P.S. Brian, looking forward to reading your book!

Oldfist,

I'm sure your son will enjoy the book.

Brian,

Your book is outstanding.
Great job. I enjoyed it tremedously.
For people who like a historical perspective on CMA's, this is a must have.

Best regards,
Joe

Tim,
I have more documentation (two old manuscripts) from Europe over the last couple of days. I need to do some translation work, but will pass them over to you as soon as I'm done. I think I'm on to something.

congratulation for the book,anyone who writes a book is great in my book(well i don't have a book but you know what i mean!!)
we can learn from history and from the knowledge
of others,but lets face it how accurate are the old chinese tales.i know that when i tell my buddy joe how i beated that guy with with a low kick,he told his friend bob that it was jump spining back kick to the face,then when bob told the people at the bar i was a chi master and the
the guy flew back 30 feet from a light touch with the back of my hand.well lets multiply this over
300 years!!!!!!!!?you get the idea.
i'm all about being entertain,but what i'm
really curious about is where is martial art
going.is there any moves left to invent or just variations?can we really get that much faster?
how strong can one man really be?
is human have a higher potential that is still unknown??????????????????????
any ideas????
if any one want to come up with different methods
to experiment with,i'm all ears.

bellone,

c'mon man what are you working on? What language are you translating? Bostonian or Italian?

Didn't know you wuz a scholar betty.

you need to live up to that name "curious".
"je parle parfaitement francais,merci!"
but i don't translate old Napoleon Bonaparte manuscripts.

do you know what they found in Napoleon's grave?


Bony parts.

hahahahahaha!

good one

curious,

While it is a shock to anyone and everyone that knows me that I could translate (let alone read and write - even to my mother), the documents are pretty interesting and there are some very consistent themes in fighting approaches regardless of where the fighting method comes from in the world.

I have made a copy of two pieces that Tim has in his posession (one Italian and one German). The German document (written in the 16th century) I got from a Professor that teaches at Tufts University. The Italian piece (circa 1420's) is from my contacts in Italy.

And for the record - Shane is a genius. I know this is true because when I speak to him in Bostonian, he understands me.

good training and Happy New Year everyone,
Joe

For all those interested,..

Master Zhang Yun has a new book: "The Combat Techniques of Taiji, Bagua, and Xing Yi,.."

It is a very comprehensive overview of fighting in the IMA..

A great read to add to your collection!

Zhang laoshi told me that it will be out in stores across the world sometime next week..

He also has a book out on the jian, which is also outstanding, and very informative..

For all those interested in fighting with IMA this book is a must!

You can find it in stores, at Amazon.com, or on his web site www.ycgf.org

Thank you for your time,

Ten