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The Martial Arts Encyclopedia
 
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The Martial Arts Encyclopedia [Paperback]

Jennifer Lawler (Author)
2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)


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Book Description

July 1996
From viet vo dao to Van Damme, this comprehensive martial arts reference contains thousands of entries covering every possible aspect of the discipline--including martial arts styles, history, theory, practice, founders, fighting techniques, ranking systems, and more. Perfect for beginners, this guide is also a wonderful reference tool for advanced practitioners who are interested in learning more about martial arts. Photos & illustrations.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Masters Press (July 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1570280681
  • ISBN-13: 978-1570280689
  • Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,690,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Lawler, a writer and black belt martial artist, is the author or co-author of more than 25 non-fiction books in the how-to and self-help genres, including the popular and award-winning Dojo Wisdom series (Penguin). She is also the author of several novels.

The former editor of ATA World magazine, she has written for Family Circle, Oxygen and Cooking Light, mostly about issues related to martial arts, self defense, and personal growth. She has also written about writers' concerns for The Writer, Writer's Digest, American Writer, and others.

For the past several years, she has coached and mentored writers at various stages in their careers. She has taught many writing workshops throughout the United States, and teaches online classes for the University of California, San Diego and other organizations.

She earned a Ph.D in medieval literature from the University of Kansas and can still translate Old English if she thinks hard enough.

Her website is at www.jenniferlawler.com and her blog, Finding Your Voice, can be found at http://jenniferlawler.com/wordpress/

 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting effort with some major flaws., August 26, 1996
By A Customer
This review is from: The Martial Arts Encyclopedia (Paperback)
Ms. Lawler has done a pretty fair job of putting together an encyclopedia on the martial arts. However, there are some major flaws: 1) her discussion of Chinese as a spoken language is misleading and confusing. The encyclopedia includes terms from both Cantonese and Mandarin (without discussing dialects in any form) and uses several Romanization systems. However, she only provides one pronunciation guide for Chinese. Chinese is NOT a spoken language, there are numerous spoken Chinese dialects. 2) On page 260, Ms. Lawler states that China "conquered" Okinawa in the 16th century. This NEVER happened! 3) On page 45, Ms. Lawler states that Judo practitioners wear fundoshis (loin cloths) and zoris (straw sandals). What training sessions has she attended where she saw this? On one wore this apparel at the recent Atlanta Olympics. 4) Editing, copy editing in particular, was very uneven. There were numerous misspellings/typoes throughout the work. 5) Her treatment of style founders was rather uneven. In some cases she provided the founders' names, others she didn't, even if they were readily available (ie., the founders of Chinese Goju Ryu Karate and Chito Ryu Karate). I did enjoy her "Countries of Origin" section, which is somewhat unique in this type of encyclopedia (despite the grievous historical error on page 260). Her inclusion of Vietnames martial arts is also to be praised as few authors before Ms. Lawlor have seen it fit to mention them to any great length, if at all
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars more misinformation, October 25, 2003
This review is from: The Martial Arts Encyclopedia (Paperback)
Martial art enclyclopedias should be written by authors with indepth knowledge and hands on experience in the arts included in their book. Yes this will take a lifetime of training but if not what we get is rehashed misinformation, taken from previous dictionaries.

Professional writers who engage in the arts as a hobby are obviously oblivious to the more in depth details of classical Asian martial arts.

I cannot comment on the Korean sphere of arts, nor in depth on the Chinese, but on the other hand, call the Japanese segment by what they truly are: rehashed misinformation on classical as well as modern Japanese martial arts.

Should someone want an accurate dictionary?...Ask for old copies of Budo Jiten, until next year, when the 1st translation of Hyaku Jiten no Bugei hits the stands.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible, July 24, 2002
This review is from: The Martial Arts Encyclopedia (Paperback)
While the author seems to get most of the Korean information right, she misses as often as she hits when trying to deal with Chinese and Japanese subject matter.
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