These are five martial arts books I find invaluable:
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by Gracie, Gracie, Peligro, and Danaher
Shaolin Chin Na by Dr. Jwing-Ming Yang
Taiji Chin Na by Dr. Jwing-Ming Yang
Jujitsu Before 1882 by Darrell Max Craig
Judo Training Methods by Ishikawa and Draeger
I find I reference each of these books at least once a month as I work through my training.
What books are constant reference for you as you train.
I don’t have any books on martial arts.
Why not MPS - I’d have though an intellectual guy like you would have had sh!tloads.
Where the f*ck do you get your Pro-BJJ arguments from then!! 
I can recommend:
“Wing Chun” by Grandmaster Ip Chun and Michael Tse.
Bought it today in preparation for my switching to Wing Chun.
I don’t have pro BJJ arguments… I have procrosstraining arguments 
I find that overanalyzing something destroys it. You simply go out there and do it. Sure I can (and have) given a detailed explanation of a cross, but I don’t sit around and pick it apart, nor do I EVER think about it while I’m doing it. Books about physical activities tend to seem that way to me.
That’s why I tend to read about the philosophy and concepts behind things. Although my old* Judo diagram book is invaluable.
*By old, I mean OLD. This thing is from 1967, and I’m its third owner. Given to me by my Sensei at the time, and he got it from his Sensei. Yep. And it’s still in one piece. Yikes. It almost feels like a responsibility - to pass it on to my best student when I’m a Sensei!!! [or more likely Sifu!]
Now THAT, I find particularly boring/pointless!!
No offense to you (or anybody else this helps) but I really hate the philosophy stuff. I mean, the practice of the art will give you the philosophy (as far as fight stuff goes) and I don’t buy in to character development and self-discovery stuff via martial training…
HOWEVER, I do love reading the histories of the different arts. Those are pretty cool!
Ouch MPS. Very ouch!
I mean the principles - I.e: Centreline, force-on-force, yielding, cyclic principle etc. I like to see why stuff works. No?
Just me?..
All that “character development” is a bit wussy yes.
I’m a trial by fire guy. Theories of fighting don’t interest me nearly as much as the actual doing of it. Heck, I frequently don’t even like watching it, unless it’s one of our guys. I tell people who want to come watch my tournaments they are welcome to come, but bring a book!
I mean, centerline, for example. I could talk endlessly about how slipping out to in reclaims the center line so you can apply forward pressure in the form of combinations, and slipping in to out takes you off HIS centerline while keeping him on YOURS so that angled attacks (hook, overhand right) have greater effect (harder to block, body out of position, they have to adjust before they can return fire etc). You could practically write a book on the subject!
I just find reading about it to be kind of boring. I’d rather go get hit in the face and not think about the concepts of the centerline and ask the more fundamental question of “how do I move here and not get hit,” until I’m not hit in the face anymore Boxers do it simple “GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!” “DON’T STAND THERE AND LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!!!” “MOVE!!!” That’s pretty much what Dave yells at me, rather than providing a 10 minute dissertation
I’d rather develop sensitivity by grappling than read about yielding, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that the centerline is a useful concept but there’s no need to talk it to death, IMO. Of course, I"ve done just that now, so in conclusion, I’d just like to say
“Pot, this is kettle… YOU’RE BLACK!!”
I also don’t think all books are useless. I’m sure I’ll accumulate some over my life
I will also amend my statement to say that if you are already familiar with something, but can’t quite seem to get it, sometimes something in a book will make you go “AHA!!”
Originally posted by DelicateSound
[B]…I can recommend:
“Wing Chun” by Grandmaster Ip Chun and Michael Tse.
Bought it today in preparation for my switching to Wing Chun. [/B]
I didnt like that book. I sat in the book store and read a lot of it and just didnt care for it. Not dissing Ip Chun, but there was something to the layout I didnt like.
I have A LOT of MA books, Shaolin, Mantis, Wing Chun, Choy Lay Fut, Hung Gar, Ninjutsu, Kenjutsu, weapons (sai and nunchaku) amongst others. I need to get like a MA encyclopedia, but they are all expensive and the ones at Half Priced Books are usually in crappy condition. I need one just as a reference tool so I can kind of look up styles to see what they are about.
MP,
I too have “Jujutsu before 1882”, mighty fine indeed!
Oops, it was 3Dman who posted it, I thougt it was merryprankster… sorry!
Hmph.
MPS:
I’d rather go get hit in the face and not think about the concepts of the centerline
If I’m walking through Washington and see a guy with a very flat nose!..
I see your point MPS - maybe I’m just a strategy geek! I also find I can apply principles elsewhere in life. Ah well, maybe I should have been born with a husky Pat Morita voice so I could make comments like “Tree has stwong woots Daniel-san”
Philbert: I thought so too at first - spent about 10 minutes sitting in Webberley’s reading it - and I like it. I’m completely new to Wing Chun, but I’m interested and wanting to learn, so it provides a good basis. Nice origins and history etc. for reference and Siu Lim Tao fully layed out.
As for a Martial Arts encyclopedia - I saw a £150 one with like 50 pages on every style you can think of plus what was basically the complete history of the development of MA’s. :rolleyes: It was like 2000 pages - size of a normal encyclopedia!
I sound a little harsher than I mean to be. If the approach you take works for you, then go for it!
I found I needed to get hit in the face a couple of times… then I don’t stand there
I know what you mean - experience is the best way to learn. However, experience is a harsh teacher. She gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.
Maybe I’m just a reading buff. That quote is from Homer.
And I don’t mean Bart’s father.
I have over 300 martial arts books…some written in just Chinese. I have read a lot of them, but for the most part, I collect them! A lot of them come in handy, but some are pretty lame! I just like to see all of them on my bookshelves.
~Wen~
Wushu Chick. You know that girl that married the Berlin Wall. You’re up there with that one…!
Sorry.
DS..again, what the H3LL are you talking about?? You have me so confused it’s not funny!
Forget it!I was calling you sad for collecting books.
Not that I think it is - I do too - but I read them all. I read all the time. At the moment its Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”
How can people not read. At the moment I’m trying to learn A-Level Physics at my own pace. [I couldn’t take it myself in college :(]
THANKS A LOT DS!! Sheesh…
Good for you though…
~Wen~
book collections
wushu chik,
I seem to recall that you study PM.
Do you have any Chinese books on PM?