Customer Reviews

Muay Thai Boran: The Martial Art of Thailand

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I am very familiar with Ajarn De Cesaris and his work. He is a very well versed practitioner of Muay Thai and Muay Boran. I liked his videos (mostly). I am however very disappointed with the book. I felt there was way too much tooting of his own horn and very little technical information. There was however plenty of historical information and perpectives from the author himself. But over and over again we hear how his organization is the one that did this or that. I know already your contribution and feel it unnecessary to hear it 25 times. I thought that someone as passionate about spreading the Thai National Arts would have given a little more technical information on the actual techniques vs. theories and perspectives. Indeed the only techniques or tricks actually described were the same ones described in Panya Kraitus' book over 15 years ago. Nothing new in the way of techniques here, only a few different angles on the history and traditions. In this book I feel he points out and exploits what to me is the obvious. We know Muay Thai has grown and become accepted worldwide. We know it is generally accepted amongst MMA fighters. We know the author has helped the movement towards the ancient style of Muay Thai "Muay Boran". We know Muay Thai is ever changing. If you have read any of the other books on Muay Thai you also know the basic Mae Mai and Look Mai techniques described in this book. although the authors perspectives are interesting this book seems much more of a marketing ploy to me to get you to buy the authors videos,attend his seminars or join his organization because if you don't... you will actually learn very little from this book.

Good information on a little known martial art, by a man directly involved in its evolution. For Muay Thai, Bando and other southeast asian art practitioners, it's a great way to expand your knowledge. Some of the technique and training material may seem generic or redundant to non-sport / combat art practitioners, but it's still a good read.

For historial martial art researchers and multi-art trainers, it's definitely a good buy.