Defend yourself with Kung Fu: A practical guide [Hardcover]

Anthony Patrick Harrington (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: Paul (1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0091226902
• ISBN-13: 978-0091226909
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Seventies self-defense manual, April 12, 2011

By 

Anibal Madeira (Lisboa Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defend yourself with kung fu: A practical guide (Paperback)

Harrington was an acomplished 70's martial arts instructor. In thisbook from 1977 you will find several stances, one Tar Fong Kuen, 22 Techniques and several advices on self-defense. You will have descriptions of each technique, including stances for both right and left handed attacks and defenses. Almost all techniques included require a training partner.

Interesting for someone who wants to know about the history of martial arts in the occidental world and to read one of the first western books about the subject, it hasn't great value as a training guide for the modern audience.

The Kung Fu style in question isn't even mentioned, being extremely similar to Shotokan Karate. With insufficient visual references, many techniques can't even be attempted unless you have previous knowledge and training. Also you get no calisthenics or training preparation (essential to avoid injuries).

Obviously no one become a martial artist or a self defense expert just reading books; but they are nonetheless a good source of information. And there are much better books or DVD's where you can learn your basics than this one.

The two stars take into account the fact that in the seventies, with the exception of the great Bruce Lee books, you didn't had many written information in English about Kung Fu. For the purpose of learning basic self-defense knowledge using Kung-Fu this book is classified as one star.