I posted this in the Martial Media location but I’m not sure anyone looks over there. Got a couple really good responses and was hoping for some more…
I was hoping all of you with more/different experience and time in martial arts could help me in my search for knowlege by recommending some books that you have read on the Martial Arts, Martial Philosophy, and general Eastern philosophy. I tried to put a list together and found that I only have 9 that I’ve read and would recommend. As you can tell, I have a long way to go. In no order:
Art of War - Sun Tzu
Zen in the Martial Arts - Joe Hyams
Living the Martial Way - Forrest Morgan
Kodo - Ancient Ways - Kensho Furuya
Book of Five Rings - Musashi (translation by Stephen Kaufman)
Warrior Within - John Little
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu
Tao of Jeet Kune Do - Bruce Lee
Tao of Gung Fu - Bruce Lee
Please list title and author so I can look them up and get a better idea of the content.
Originally posted by Souljah a very popular one = kung fu:history philosophy and technique by david chow and richard spangler
That would be on my list without a doubt. Great book, shows so many different arts in it. Only wish they had some Shuai Chiao (maybe they do and I missed it?)
“Any book from Marc “TheAnimal” MacYoung, or Pavel Tsatsouline. Both have websites you can get thier books from.”
MacYoung´s self-protection books are probably great but differ greatly from what he has already mentioned,not that MA related I think.
It seems that those books that you have listed Wilson,do place plenty of emphasis on philosophy and theory.
There are many translations of Tao Te Ching on www,and also some translations of The Book of Five Rings.
The same goes for Art of War too (you might want to take this into consideration if you´re going to get those books.I do not know of actual copies besides those on www though)
Since you listed Tao Te Ching,which is not too martial,you might also want to take a look at “Chinese Classics” etc. which includes many books like that of changes (I-Ching) and Zhuangzi and others.