Customer Reviews

Tao of Jeet Kune Do

5 star:		(103)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had the opportunity to see Bruce Lee in action at an East Coast karate tournament in 1969. He wasn't competing but was there as a celebrity guest.

I stood with others at the back of the tournament hall and listened in awe as he talked about having just finished filming Marlow and his plans to leave soon for Hong Kong to begin filming a movie.

Later, I watched him warm-up a great tournament fighter named Luis Delgado. Lee's speed was absolutely incredible. His backfist was nearly imperceptible and his footwork for closing the gap was a blur.

What a loss to the martial arts world that he left us so soon. But we still have this book of his notes. It a wonderful bible, if you will, that will make any martial artist look at his own training to see how some of Lee's ideas can fit.

There will always be the Jackie Chans and Jet Lis who will come along and dazzle us with their screen antics. But Bruce Lee was a seeker of knowledge, a true master of the fighting arts and philosophy. Some of it is in this wonderful book.

As an author of 13 books on the martial arts, I highly recommend this book for every MA library.

Tao of Jeet Kune Do is made up of notes written by Bruce Lee during 1970 while he was stuck in bed for six months with a hurt back. Also included are sketches drawn by Bruce to show different stances, attacks, takedown methods, etc. It must be known the book is not for those who just want to be able to beat people up. There are many proverbs included in the story and it challenges you to think and exercise your brain just as much as it challenges you to exercise your body. These proverbs could also be a downside for those with a lesser understanding of things because some of them could seem very confusing, or they may mislead people into getting a different meaning than what is meant to be given from them. Tao of Jeet Kune Do was not originally meant to be a book, but instead a collection of notes, so the information is sort of cluttered around. Included are suggestions on exercise, diet, stretching, attitude, and of course, self defense and attack. For those who study other forms of martial arts, almost all of the ideas behind Jeet Kune Do can be incorporated with these styles. Even if you don't use the book to train yourself it can be a very helpful tool in understanding how Bruce Lee thought and fought, and you can get a grasp of how Bruce Lee trained himself to accomplish all the great things he did. Overall, I thought it was a very enlightening book, and the only downside was the cluttering of the information, which was easily ignorable by the great content, and the confusing proverbs, which may have just been confusing to me, and could be easily understood by someone else.

I have seen a little of 9 different types of martial arts and am a black belt in tae kwon do, and I know that bruce lee is deffinetly on to something. This is pure genious.

This book was never actually written by Bruce for book form. This is a compilation of his notes and drawings. While this creates somewhat of a jumbled reading experience, Tao of Jeet Kune Do is still an interesting insight to how progressive Bruce Lee was for his time. What he created, which was carried on by Joe Lewis in the ring, was a practical, functional method of fighting that inspires martial artists to this day.

Bruce Lee, got his foundation in Wing Chun Kung Fu. When you read this book, don't misunderstand Bruce Lee's philosophy: he is offering you concepts. The concept of throwing out everything in an art that you can't use and adding what you think is useful often leaves a watered down version each succeeding generation of new students depending upon what their teachers think useless. Some- how I don't think that was Bruce Lee's intention or meaning! The individual can however, develop his or her own repitoire by training in more than just one style, which was considered disloyal, when Bruce Lee was alive. Bruce Lee, wasn't about style he was about concepts, but don't forget he already got his foundation from Wing Chun, so pick an art to stay with and develop your foundation as you grow in the martial arts. Buy this and read it several times.
Train hard and have fun!
Guro Dennis Servaes http://www.dennisservaes.com

This is the book of all books concerning martial arts. The concepts once fully grasped and applied can take the novice martial artist and improve them dramiatically regardless of what style they study.

This is a good book for understanding the physical and philosophical ideals of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.

This book is a great look at training and gives you a complete view of combat in all its ranges Bruce was an ultimate fighter before Ultimate fighting was a thought. I also advise anyone whoe has read this book to pick up Revelations of a Warrior it is light an up date to real fighting from a real street soldier.

This is the best book i have ever read on the subject of combat ( not sparring ore competition ) the book gives you a guidet to the thaugts and mind of a great master of realistic hand to hand coombat. Lee was one of the first to realize that in order to train for the street you had to go all out everything goes and free your mind from styl-thinking, for instance developing qualities in all the different ranges of fighting ( kicking range, punching range, trapping, grappling...). You have to adapt no style as style and have no limitations whatsoever. I find this to be a very good guide for advanced students. I first bought this book 15 years ago, and did not understand much other than some of the foreword. Having practiced martial arts and selfdefense for the last ten years i now start to understand the tremendus insight and depht of this work. A must read for everyone wawnting to make sure that they train to survive outside of the ring as well as inside.

Since the late 1970's, I have studied Mr. Lee's "Way of the Intercepting fist."
This book is more than the physical aspects of his methods, but it is a philosophy and a way of life.

My favorite quote: "Knowing is not enough, you must apply; willing is not enough, you must do." -Bruce Lee

Please do not hesitate to check out my Poetry book that I published while in the U.S. Navy in 2003; "Under the Rose: Poetry of Tragedy, Essence, and Romance"