Customer Reviews

Indonesian Pencak Silat, Pukulan Cimande Pusaka: The Principles of Destruction (vol. 1)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is just some bad opium trip. The picture quality is terrible, the instructions difficult to follow ...

Most disturbing is the great amount of space given to "woo- woo" stuff like black magic and such. It reminds me of the quote by Robert Heinlein, "One man's religion is another man's belly laugh."

If you are interested in the martial arts aspects of Penjak Silat, you will be gravely disapointed with this book. Though rare, there are other books on the subject. All of the ones I have do a much better job of explaining the basics and principles than this rather strange work.

* I don't care how much a man knows, if he cannot write, he should not publish a book!
* It is obvious that Pendekar Sanders has a great deal of knowledge, but writing is not among his skills... NOR IS ORGANIZATION! His chapters are an exercise in patience for even a monk. He never separates his thoughts into different paragraphs, which makes each chapter and topic an ordeal to read and undestand. His words are vague, and often do not even depict what he is supposed to be showing. In addition, the forms he details in the early chapters do not have accompanying photos (the photos are in another chapter closer to the end of the book), so you have torn the binding of the book by the time you have begun to understand what he is talking about.
* I have had this book for about 6 years now, and have re-read it numerous times in an effort to understand the art. Even in re-drawing the pictures of the forms he illustrates, there is no way to come away from this book with any comprehension of the traditional forms within it. No other books has ever frustrated me as much, and I am anxoius to see someone with actual professional pride put together a better book... any 8th-grader could do better, I'm sure.
* This is, by far, the worst martial arts book I have ever seen.

Great book with fasinating teachings. Discover this traditional martial art from Indonesia. physicla teachings, magickal teachings, jurus, mudras, mantras... It's a must read

* I don't care how much a man knows, if he cannot write, he should not publish a book!
* It is obvious that Pendekar Sanders has a great deal of knowledge, but writing is not among his skills... NOR IS ORGANIZATION! His chapters are an exercise in patience for even a monk. He never separates his thoughts into different paragraphs, which makes each chapter and topic an ordeal to read and understand. His words are vague, and often do not even depict what he is supposed to be showing. In addition, the forms he details in the early chapters do not have accompanying photos (the photos are in another chapter closer to the end of the book), so you have torn the binding of the book by the time you have begun to understand what he is talking about.
* Then, of course, there is the fact that the man devotes more energy to writing about mysticism and the occult than he does the martial arts. If I wanted a book on the Qabbala, I'd have bought one, not a martial arts book.
* I have had this book for about 6 years now, and have re-read it numerous times in an effort to understand the art. Even in re-drawing the pictures of the forms he illustrates, there is no way to come away from this book with any comprehension of the traditional forms within it. No other book has ever frustrated me as much, and I am anxoius to see someone with actual professional pride put together a better book... any 8th-grader could do better, I'm sure.
* This is, by far, the worst martial arts book I have ever seen.

To be frank, as it is obvious to see from the other reviews, you will either love this book or hate it. I believe that it is an excellent book, but the reason why the others here don't like it is because it is not a conventional martial arts book. It is "different,"so to speak. The author divided the pictures and the descriptions in the book, and if you start reading the book with a bookmark, this won't be that big a problem, as a matter of fact, I got used to it. However, if you're more into comfort, then I understand that you probably wouldn't like it, but I think it's not a big problem. The info here is invaluable, I fully commend the author. I have studied many martial arts, and I love martial arts, but most have still lost their intrigue the way they had it in the 80's, when I was growing up. The black"magic,"as the others here have called it, is why this art still holds intrigue for me, and I bought the book in 1999, and I am still not tired of reading it. Whether you believe in it or not, the practitioners of Pencak Silat can be seen doing their voodoo on youtube and it is obviously not a parlour trick. I am of the idea that any idea can have power if you give it power, but if not then it won't. If you laugh at it, then of course it won't be very big for you, but if you believe it, you can use it to do amazing things. This is for any religion or belief of any kind, and that's why this book is more than a Martial arts book. It's a good in-depth look at what these people believe, and what still gives them power today. I think that it's fascinating, which is why after 10 years (this year) of owning this book I still am not tired of it and will go back and turn it's pages once every couple of years, thoroughly, and still find it interesting.

I saw a video of Sanders and found some of his movements a bit careless and maybe a little stiff but this book is very informative and I think of great value even if you're not a Cimande practioner or not even a silat practitioner.
VolumeII is maybe even more interesting.

Erik