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28 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Fundamentalist of JKD, October 4, 2009
This review is from: Jeet Kune Do: The Arsenal of Self-Expression (Paperback)
This is a book that's hard to rate. From a purely technical standpoint, this text is actually pretty good. Much like "The Straight Lead" it covers few techniques in the tiniest details. This approach means that the reader will not get a lot of variety, but will be exposed to a very in-depth look at some of the basics of JKD.
But whereas the technical section is overall well done, the theoretical part of Tom's work is downright awful. In her hands, Bruce Lee's beautiful philosophy is turned into yet another dogma to be followed religiously. This is the worst betrayal of Lee's philosophy one could imagine. Tom is right that many JKD practitioners misuse the freedom of thought and the creativity that Lee encouraged, but her solution is worse than the disease: eliminate the very freedom of thought and creativity that's at the core of Lee's vision. Like a religious fundamentalist, Tom believes modern practitioners should do nothing but follow blindly what Bruce Lee did--which is antithetical to what Lee actually said when he explicitly stated that JKD was a continuous process of research, and not yet another "style".
Perhaps less important, but nonetheless disturbing, is Tom's argument that Lee fashioned JKD entirely out of Western sources (mainly boxing and fencing). In doing so, she completely dismisses the importance of wing chun (and of many other arts that Lee experimented with) in the genesis of JKD (btw, where do all the JKD kicking techniques come from then? From fencing?!?).
I'd love to support Tom's work in producing a very thorough technical manual, but her arrogant dogmatism is too much for me to bear.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Watered down JKD Kickboxing, August 12, 2011
This review is from: Jeet Kune Do: The Arsenal of Self-Expression (Paperback)
The title of this book really should have been Jun Fan Kickboxing simply because of its narrow focus. In reality, it's a rather watered down version of JKD . While Tom does outline some techniques in detail, the book is incomplete and one would be better off with Chris Kent's JKD Kickboxing. The book is marred by a number of contradictions that leads one to believe that her understanding of JKD is very limited. She makes the case that JKD was solely derived from Boxing and Fencing and devoid of Wing Chun. This is a major contradiction to every original student from Lee's final school in LA. She disputes that other arts influenced Lee in his development as Dan Inosanto claims, but then she has an entire chapter devoted to kicks that obviously come from Thai boxing and Savate and have no relationship to Boxing or Fencing. One is prompted to ask "so where did these kicks come from?" Her assumption that grappling played no part in JKD is also incorrect. According to Bruce Lee's original student Larry Hartsel, a man who also studied privately with Lee, there were 33 distinct grappling moves developed by Lee for JKD and was very interested in ground fighting towards the end of his life. Teri Tom's assumption that if Lee didn't show something to Ted Wong, then it wasn't part of JKD is poor journalism to say the least. If any reader is truly interested in acquiring an honest view of JKD, they should study from as many "original" sources as possible.
The book is also marred by her political attempt to place her own instructor as the highest authority in JKD. She justifies this position with the fact that Ted Wong met Bruce Lee in 1967 and had the most private lessons logged in Lee's Day Timer. Unfortunately she fails to mention that Dan Inosanto began working with Lee three years before Wong. Lee and Inosanto had a relationship that evolved beyond teacher slash student and not every meeting was a "logged" lesson. She also fails to mention that while Wong was given a level 2 certification by Lee, Dan Inosanto was given a level 3. A level 3 was the certification given by Lee that allowed one to teach his art and Bruce had handpicked Inosanto to run his LA "Chinatown" school. Ted Wong was a devoted student of Lee's and Lee was known for focusing on what each student needed individually. Sifu Wong had never studied any kind of martial arts before he met Lee so Lee was working from the ground up and focused on Wong having a basic structure. Many feel that's why Wong developed the idea that JKD was more of a fixed and distinct style. Alas, if Lee had only lived longer and Wong could have studied long enough to have been certified to a level 3. Then perhaps he would have had a greater appreciation of the deeper philosophical aspects of JKD. In the words of Bruce Lee "Therefore, any attempt to define Jeet Kune Do in terms of a distinct style ... is to completely miss its meaning." And that's the sad truth about this book. Ted Wong wrote in the foreward that it was a loss that the original students didn't collaborate after Lee's death and pool their JKD knowledge together. If Wong had discussed more with other original students, perhaps this book would not have been limited to a few basic kicks and strikes, but might have been more inclusive of the totality and beauty of Lee's art.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Politics aside, disappointing because of her poor boxing, December 23, 2009
This review is from: Jeet Kune Do: The Arsenal of Self-Expression (Paperback)
Let me say first, I'm basing this review off of the pictures and information of boxing and kickboxing techniques show in this book and NOT in any way about the JKD politics. I ordered this book and Anderson Silva's "Boxing for MMA" and received both the same day. I was very excited to read this book because it was the first time I would be able to read a fairly comprehensive JKD book by one of Ted Wong's students. However, I was severely disappointed by the picture demonstrations shown by Miss Tom. In most, if not all the photos, during her boxing combinations, Miss Tom's hand are constantly lowered or flailing by her side as she lands hits on the focus mitts. She rarely, if ever, has her non-punching hand in any way guarding her face in these pictures. Most times when she is punching or kicking her rear hand is dropped close to her hips. As any boxer or kickboxer with ring experience knows, dropping your non-punching hand during a combination or kick is a surefire way to get hit or knocked out. We see it all the time in the UFC or professional Mixed-Martial Arts competitions. A good example of her apparent complete lack of defensive structure is on pages 162-163. I was actually very surprised by this and a little disappointed given that Miss Tom is praised by Ted Wong and also regularly writes a column for Black Belt magazine. Another disappointment with this book is that it's so basic. The other product I received on that day, Anderson Silva's "Boxing for MMA", was much more in depth, Mr. Silva NEVER dropped his hands during combinations, and also noted, many times, how he had knocked many opponents out for making the mistake of leaving their head un-guarded. The "Boxing for MMA" also much better boxing punches, footwork, set-ups, and defensive sections. As someone who has trained martial arts for 10 years and boxed for 14, and trained kickboxing in Jeet Kune Do AND Muay Thai Boxing, I learned a lot more from Anderson Silva's "Boxing For MMA" than Teri Tom's "Jeet Kune Do: The Arsenal of Self Expression" and came away more satisfied with my purchase. Honestly, Miss Tom's fighting philosophy seems stuck to me on that age-old martial arts myth that "one strike" i.e.- The Straight Lead will take your opponent out. I would personally recommend anyone looking to improve their fighting ability to save the money you would use to purchase this book with and instead purchase "Boxing for MMA". Or, if you're still skeptical, go to the bookstore and look at Anderson Silva's "Mixed-Martial Arts:Striking" and Teri Tom's "Jeet Kune Do: The Arsenal of Self-Expression" and sit down for 15-30 minutes and compare both, and make sure you look at pages 162-163, or really any of the pictures where she's demonstrating punching combinations, of Miss Tom's book to see how badly she drops her hands. On a last note, please do not think I am writing this because I dislike Miss Tom, I was honestly excited about this book and pre-ordered it 2 months in advance but was so disappointed when I got it that I had to write this review.
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