Customer Reviews

Death Touch: The Science Behind The Legend Of Dim-Mak

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As a martial artist and neuroscientist, I was looking forward to reading this book and learning what, if anything, is known about the science behind pressure points in general and dim mak in particular. While I admire the effort put forth by the author, and I look forward to a time when science has made substantial strides in understanding pressure points, we are just not there yet.

The author presents unrestrained speculation and passes it off as solidly established scientific fact. For example, he suggests that because the nerve fibers from certain pressure points enter the spinal column at the same segment as nerves that innervate the heart, then hitting those pressure points will obviously have an effect on the heart. But there is no evidence presented (or in existance presumably) that these nerves actually make contact with one another! Simply because they are in the same room does not mean they shake hands.

That example is indicative of the general style of the book. In the instances where the author actually does make reference to some published study, the evidence cited typically relates to basic physiology and medicine and has no direct connection to pressure points per se.

The subject matter of this book is quite interesting -- that's why I bought it after all -- but to say that the author presents what is *known* about the physiology of dim mak is misleading and incorrect. At best the author has presented a theoretical framework for future scientific investigation. At worst, he has presented a completely incredible, wildly speculative, totally unproven view of the science behind dim mak.

Besides that, the diagrams included in the book are under-labeled, unattractive, and marginally useful (simply including a labeled point chart for each meridian or vessel would be a vast improvement). The reader shouldn't be forced to refer to another text with better figures just to have an idea where on the body a certain point is.

I have a black belt,an earned doctorate, and over a decade experience with pressure points/kyusho jitsu/dim mak. Therefore, I am not unexperienced when it comes to the topic. I can say without reservation that this is the best Western medical explanation of the topic written to date.

In reading this book, it must be understood that many things about pressure points are not completely understood by Western science. This book provides an excellent theoretical framework for understanding some complex topics. I have also read some of Dr. Kelly's postings on Kyusho.com and found that he is a very knowledgeable person.

In reading the reviews, I found that one physician agrees with me and one doesn't. I respect both of their learned opinions. When you read the Endnotes at the conclusion of the book you will find that Dr. Kelly is a scholar who has done his homework.

One footnote, an osteopath is a physician, by law, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. You may safely dismiss ignorant comments by uninformed sources to the contrary.

Since the 1980's, there has been a growing interest within the martial arts community regarding the application of acupoint striking sequences. In general, a large portion of this interest has been driven by the effectiveness of these types of strikes. With growing frequency, techniques using acupoints are often showcased at seminars and promotional venues by various martial artists. In particular, there continues to be a large number of knockout demonstrations, in which practitioners (trained and untrained) smack a select number of acupoint locations on the body to quickly incapacitate a person. As with all things, the quality level (both in terms of instruction and skill) is often varied, and occasionally lacking. These various types of acupoint and joint lock manipulation techniques are often described as Chin Na, Tuite, Kyushu and Dim Mak, as well as pressure point and vital point strikes.

As the interest in point striking techniques has continued to mushroom, there have been a growing number of incidents where individuals have been struck or knocked out using acupoint strikes; occasionally by younger students attempting to emulate these techniques, absent proper supervision and instruction. This practice is not only concerning, but also highly dangerous, given a number of these techniques have long term associated effects which may manifest slowly over time.

Within the introductory section of Dr. Kelly's book, he correctly notes "... that attacking [acupoint locations on the human body] can adversely affect both the nervous and cardiovascular systems and that this, in fact, is very dangerous." (p. 4) Further, he notes that the motivational premise for his book is to help educate the martial arts community on the potential medical dangers of striking acupoints. In my humble professional opinion and experience, this as highly commendable, and I support Dr. Kelly's efforts in this direction.

In my opinion, Dr. Kelly has done an admirable job in presenting highly complex medical material in a format that can be widely read and understood by the layman martial artist. While I am not in full agreement with some aspects of the book, including certain cause and effect relationships he lists for Dim-Mak, I would recommend Dr. Kelly's book to anyone interested in learning more about the scientific theories involving martial uses of acupoints. I sincerely believe that Dr. Kelly's book will be a great benefit to the martial arts community, and will help educate folks to the potential medical risks that can exist in striking acupoints and performing martial knockouts.

Being a neurologist and a professor of neuroscience, I had a strong interest in this book, not only from a scientific perspective but also from a martials perspective. I found this book absolutely fascinating. Dr. Kelly discusses little known neurologic concepts such as convergence, aberrent reference, and somtovisceral reflexes and uses them to explain the effects of striking certain body areas. Dr. Kelly's knowledge of neurology and neuroscience is exceptional and surpases many "experts" in those fields. I especially liked the extensive references to solid scientific sources. Anyone with a background in the medical sciences or martial arts will appreciate this book.

I have been training in Ryukyu Kempo and Dian Xue for nearly 15 years. In 1991, I attended a lecture offered by Dr. David Ellis and George Dillman that discussed the neuroscience behind pressure point fighting. Until a few years ago, that information wasn't available (now on George Dillman's tape #18).

This book contains roughly the same information, but in a hard copy version with references that you can easily review. I highly recommend it! It is a real concise reference.

What's not included in this book is detailed breakdown of forms or techniques or a discussion of the methods of analyzing kata. In fact, a couple of the examples aren't even best ones for the techniques shown (that might have been intentional based on the authors premise of deterring people from practicing the techniques). Revival techniques are discussed for those who know them but it definitely is not a "how to" book. There are a few other books on the market that focus on form interpretation. If that is your interest, look for one of those and find a qualified Kyusho Jitsu, Dian Xue, or Dim Mak instructor. Having Dr. Kelly's book should help you stay safe, i.e. don't just let anyone practice on you -- know the risks, have everyone learn both western CPR and eastern revival techniques, and learn from the experience of others so no one has to get hurt intentionally or accidentally.

Dr Kelly has taken a mystical subject that seemed to be derived from mere legend and transformed it into a scientific reality. This book is well written and enhanced by Dr Kelly's unique ability to make complex medical information seem intuitive. This is without question the most authentic and authoritative book on dim mak. I would highly recomend this book to anyone who has an interest in this ancient obsecure martial art or anyone who is fascinated with the martial arts in general.

In all actuality Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine are Medical Doctors plus. The school is longer. They are required to take the same coarses as a M.D. then additional coarses that specialize in the muscular, skeletal, and nervous system. This is only in the U.S. Other countries have no such requirements, and are pretty much glorified chiropractors.
In my honest opinion concidering what all information is in the book I think he did a damn good job. There really isn't any good research out there explaining why dim mak works. Really the only things I didnt care for were the diagrams, a little hard to follow. Even so he recomends getting an anatomy book. Also you have to have alot of patients to handle the info. But still great info, and definatly worth it concidering it costs like a whopping 16 bucks. Well have fun kiddies.

I realize there are already a lot of reviews, so I'll try to be brief.

First, about the osteopath controversy, in the US, osteopaths have the same privileges as MD physicians, and can take specialty training. I personally am acquainted with at least one osteopath who's an anesthesiologist and another who's a neurologist. I understand it may be different in other countries.

I'm a neuroscientist of sorts, a surgical neurophysiologist, and I approached this book with great skepticism, and only because one of my bagua brothers wanted my opinion on it. I am very surprised and favorably impressed. I also still have serious reservations.

I don't believe in the existence of acupuncture points and meridians, and as far as I know it hasn't been demonstrated that acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, or ear candling, foot reflexology, whatever like that, actually work (other than for anesthesia). Up to now I haven't seen why there would be any connection between dim mak points and healing points.

This book does a great job of explaining these things, in a very simple and logical way. The points and meridians are all on nerves, and attacking, or massaging, a spinal nerve (in the arm or leg) or a cranial nerve, can conceivably affect internal organs through convergence in the sympathetic nervous system, or directly in the case of the vagus nerve. The pressure point knockouts could be due to induced vasovagal syncope. The concepts of facilitation, aberrant referral, and convergence explain a great deal, including a few things I hadn't previously understood, though I'm sure they're common knowledge in neurology. It ties a lot of things together, and provides a simple, rational explanation for a lot of things that I didn't think could be so explained. So to me, this is very impressive, and extremely welcome. There's nothing New Age or pseudoscientific about it at all, no need to believe in anything ineffable.

All that said, it's true that there's a lot of speculation about things that would be hard to test, and haven't been tested. I personally still doubt if acupuncture and so on work reliably for healing, but this does provide a possible explanation for how they could work.

One of my bagua teachers once pointed out to me that the open secret about attacking dim mak points is, you can't really do it in a standup fight. Once you have your victim down, and maybe a little stunned and unable to defend himself, then you could actually attack dim mak points. I guess Earle Montague claims you can also do it in standup grappling. I don't know. I still think there's plenty of room for skepticism, but for the first time, it doesn't all seem totally mysterious and incredible to me.

I'd like to add that I don't see any constructive purpose for dim mak in modern times. If it works at all, it's dangerous as hell and certainly constitutes excessive force. This should only be an intellectually interesting issue, imho.
On the other hand, this offers some possible validation of acupressure etc. as healing techniques, so further research is definitely indicated.

Curious about the "death touch"? Then this book will give you a pretty good idea of how those secret vital point moves work. As another reader commented, it's a pity the book has so few schematics: figuring out where the actual points are is kind of difficult. And the anatomy diagrams look more like ascii art than anything else. You have to go back and forth between the book and a good anatomy encyclopedia to figure things out.
Keep in mind this is not a manual to the "Vulcan death grip", though. It's more of a physiology-oriented attempt at explaining those ancient secret moves. And it should be stressed that the points discussed in this book can harm, but they can also cure.
To see Dim-Mak in action (not the heart-stopping or knock-out moves, though), take a look at [...], or [...].
And do not practice on unsuspecting partners (little sister, or friends)!

This is a very good book. Illustrations could have been better. This book but requires reading and re-reading to understand the scientific, physiological and anatomical aspects of Dim-Mak.