Martial Arts for Beginners(tr)

by Ron Sieh

Book Overview

Surveys the history and philosophy of martial arts systems from China, Okinawa, Japan, the Philippines, Brazil, Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia, and discusses the differences between fighting, sport,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0863161715
• ISBN13: 9780863161711
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Writers & Readers Publishing
• Length: 155 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Useful Fundamentals

Presented in a humorous (all right, so the typos make it funnier than the writers intended) format, this book does explain the fundamentals for many of the martial arts styles, which can be hard to find without buying a lot of books. It's useful to examine the differences if you're considering taking one of the martial arts and aren't sure where to start, or if you are taking one and wondering what the other disciplines teach. It touches on the styles from various countries, some of the popular martial artists from the past and present, and it is quite funny and easy to read. Give it a look, and maybe you'll find a tidbit or two to impress your sifu.

Great information with funny typos

The book has some great information spanning the wide world of martial arts, written in an informal manner and illustrated in the comic book style. It suffers from numerous spelling errors (the most commmon being "marital" instead of "martial") but this also adds to its charm, making it a sort cousin to all those poorly dubbed and subtitled kung fu movies. A nice book for anyone interested in martial arts history and its various types.

Excellent overview of the Martial Arts.

An informative,enjoyable and easy read. I have read several other " ...for Beginners" books (Jung, Zen, etc...). This one proved to be the most entertaining.

A most-comprehensive book on Martial Arts.

This book is an extremely well-written, comprehensive view on martial arts in general. Covering systems both popular and esoteric, this book may as well have been titled "Martial Arts for Everyone." Witty and simple enough for a beginner to gain insights into the world of Martial Arts, it also contains valuable information that even the most accomplished martial artist should find interesting.Even if it were not for all that, the book itself is extremely well-written, intelligent, and funny in its own right. A definte must for anyone who even has the most remote glimmer of interest in the martial arts.