Customer Reviews

Dragons Touch: Weaknesses of the Human Anatomy

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

 

 

Hei Long has one binding characteristic to all of his books: he takes advantage of the ignorant, giving low quality info behind interesting titles. His books are the epitome of the adage, "Never judge a book by its cover", although the word TITLE would better fit with Hei Long. He presents some of the most impractical teachings I have ever seen, perpetuating myths and further holding back the martial arts world in a sea of ignorant aspiring students.

I am a student of Shorin Ryu Karate, and this book has proven to be an excellent resource on pressure points; their locations, reactions and proper usage. Though one cannot be expected to learn martial arts from a book alone, this book can help you fine-tune your strikes to deal the maximum amount of damage using the weaknesses in the human anatomy. Truely, one of the finest treatises on the subject I have ever had the pleasure to read.

I have read a lot of books on pressure points and weakness of human body. This book is one of the better ones I have read. It shows a variety of pictures, which describe muscle and nerve groups being violated by the attack. I have to say that anyone, who is interested in the martial arts or just general self deffence will deffinetly benefit from this book.

The book was larger than I expected, but much of this is superfluous details of medical but not necessarily martial significance. Looks like he combined a range of pressure points with a medical encyclopidia. He details striking area, angle of attack and force (hard/soft) required. Unfortunately he ommitted some of my favourite pressure points. Also, the pressure points are explained from a western rather than chinese medical viewpoint (which is maybe not too bad unless you are interested in the chi channels).

It is a reasonable reference book, but would have been better if made more concise. Also, it is no way comprehensive.

Having done aikido I had some issues with his moral approach to combat i.e. if someone attacks you you are justified in using lethal force to protect yourself and family.

In addition to his details on the pressure points there are photos of him doing examples of techniques which use these pressure points. Him and another bloke are dressed in power-ranger suits doing very poorly executed techniques (poor posture, non-fluid movement, poor use of body). This made me doubt his abilities.

Get this if you want to learn a selection of pressure points but do not believe that they will necessarily be as effective as suggested, or that this is in any way comprehensive. Also, remember that killing someone isn't the only way to prevent an attack, and is usually the least desirable (especially if you get arrested).

As always, I will be frank about the book to the extent of my knowledge and not pretend I'm some incredible genius when it comes to the subject, as some reviewers appear to be sometimes...

So you might judge my bias or qualifications for yourself, I am a martial artist and I've been studying it for 6 and 1/2 years, though I don't consider myself the greatest source, but take my word for what it's worth. I am also a student in a pre-medical field (I haven't decided precisely which path I'll take, but I have an idea) and am fairly knowledgeable on the subject of human anatomy. The idea of combining human anatomy and martial arts seemed like an interesting concept to me, so I bought this book and began reading it.

Concerning the content itself, the targets are accurate and, to say the least, very painful if struck. All of the anatomy and results of strikes are as they are stated (as far as I am aware). The pictures usually give one or two ways of attacking a target area and are usually pretty useful ways. Seeing the targets being attacked on a human in a picture is very helpful in locating precisely where the pressure point is when combined with the indication in the anatomy diagrams (if there was any confusion). To be honest, however, if this book was truly for anyone to use for self defense (as it seemed to indicate in the introduction), it might have been useful for Master Hei Long not to use such obscure Kung Fu stances. Such stances are definitely not helpful to those who haven't taken Kung Fu and I don't think they help the reader learn where the targets are and how to attack them. These stances are the only cons I can think of for this book.

The strikes and targets themselves are excellent and, if the reader has any ability to strike, most of the targets would disable most attackers. There are, of course, no guarantees, since the knowledge of the targets will not help someone who does not attack or cannot strike with enough force to damage the target (some targets require substantial force to disable the attacker and some require very little force). These qualifiers are the responsibility of the reader. Nonetheless, if the reader is able and willing to strike, he/she will be able to use at least some of these targets no matter what the skill level or strength level.

To sum up, I highly suggest this book to any girl or woman who fears for her safety in a big city or college campus or any situation for that matter. I would also suggest, if you have no previous martial arts experience, you learn martial arts before, after, or while you read this book because the knowledge of these targets and the skills of the martial art will build off of each other and greatly increase your ability to defend yourself.

Master Long is the Kung Fu teacher you will never have the chance to train with and he is surely more dangerous than "randmeister" from Ohio.
As Master Long says, most school nowadays are run by the moto: A student is a fee, a test is a fee, a rank is a fee. Giving rank to an undeserving student is dishonorable yet I have seen it happen too often. The worst part is the student feels prepared for a violent encounter.
The book focuses on the 43 main anatomical targets. It contains 180 anatomical figures. There is one technique for each target.
Pros: Reminds me of human biology class. I would say this book is the Index of the human anatomy targets. When you know how something is built, you better understand how to take it apart. The 3 frames sequences are fairly simple and easy to understand.
Cons: The techniques have a rigid Kung Fu style. Some techniques involve high kicks, which I do not favor: high gravity level, 100% of the weight on 1 knee, good flexibility required.
To sum it up: if you want a crash course try the "Dirty 12" by Larry Jordan. If you are a serious martial artist then the $12 for this book are well worth it. Whatever your status is, check out "Attack Proof" by John Perkins.

I would be embarrassed if anyone knew I owned this book, and certainly wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Has anyone heard of Lian Shi kung fu before? It seems like a modified version of ninja combat techniques, maybe thats because they are wearing suffocating metallic ninja costumes from the early 80's. THe techniques shown are highly ineffecient and may serve to get yourself killed in a real fight. Like spinning back kicks to the throat, gimmie a break. The exactness of nerves, pressure points, and meridians is not detailed enough to be of great use. I would avoid buying books on vital points that were written by martial artists, they lack valid information and are filled with garbage. If you really want to study anatomy, get some chinese medicine and acupunture books and start studying. this is not stuff that should be played with lightly, and should not fall into the minds of irresponsible and violent people. If you know how to kill someone, then you should know how to revive them as well. But back to the book, it is what I would expect from early 80's american ninja fantasies, don't buy it!

Mr.Long does not deserve the bad rap that he takes.Dragon Touch was way ahead of its time with releasing this much needed material.I agree he should have never wore those Ultra man costumes and done those techniques ,although the neck breaks are valid. This book along with Dragon Touch 2 are his most complete and comprehensive ones. Loads of info to be studied.The way I look at a book is if I can learn one or two things out of it.Then it was worth it.

This book is good for people who have no idea of the weakness of human body. However the techniques and counterattacks taught by master hei long is not so impressive.
I recommend people to buy this book just to increase their knowledge on human anatomy and its weakness. However if you have no background on other fighting arts this book should not be relied on their techniques on defense and offense.

this is a piece of junk. dont waste your time or money on this worthless excuse of a book. the pictures of the wannabe power ranger should speak volumes alone for how bad this book is. if you are still unconvinced look at the diagrams done in western form instead of traditional asian style. the dumbest thing in this book has to be where it talks about driving the cartilage of the nose thru the brain causing death. when any person who knows anything about martial arts knows that is impossible to do that. what actually kills the person from that type of blow to the head is the impact causing the brain to slam back and forth in the skull which is what actually causes death. dont waste your time on this book it must have been written by some one who learned their martial arts from watching the power rangers.