Customer Reviews

Secret Fighting Arts of the World

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you thought this book was intended to be a serious book on martial arts, you were both right and wrong. When I first read the book as a teenaged martial artist in the early `60's, I was blown away by it and believed every word. It's underlying philosophy more than anything else about it influenced my early martial arts development. Then in about 1976-77, a Tai Chi friend of mine by the name of John Panter told me he thought that "John F. Gilbey" was probably a pen name for Robert W. Smith, Don Draeger, and some of the crowd Smith and Draeger hung out with in Asia. He guessed this based on the writing style and content that was similar to their other writings.

Years later, Robert Smith came out and explained exactly how he and a group of friends (all senior martial artists including Draeger who were Westerners trained in Japan and China) got the idea of writing a spoof about the martial arts. They made up the name, "John F. Gilbey," and invented a personal history for the name that combined their actual martial arts credentials. The book turned out to be a great success, but not as they had planned. Unfortunately for them, so many people believed that "John F. Gilbey" was a real person and the book a completely true book, that it took on a life of it's own and only added to the wild tales about martial arts that became popularized in the West. This happened because Smith was so skilled at interweaving fact with fiction that he unwittingly produced a satire that many found believable as complete "fact." Robert Smith later wrote an even more wild sequel to the book thinking that would finally enlighten people, but once again, he was wrong. Finally, he just came out in the martial arts magazine, "Journal Of Asian Martial Arts," and told the true story. He later repeated it in his book, "Martial Musings."

Here's a bit of what Robert Smith said: "Gilbey was a joke, an exaggeration, a fantasy. He had money, time, and amazing skill in everything. We were sure that readers would be smart enough to realize this. We were wrong....'Secret Fighting Arts of the World' contained some truth, plus many whoppers." If you want a longer explanation of what was truth and what was whoppers, I highly recommend reading "Martial Musings," which I think is Smith's best work.

But my tale of this book doesn't end there. I recently learned that back in the `70's my old friend, John Panter, actually used a technique from the book in a real situation! When I quizzed him on it, here's what Panter said: "It was the Macedonian Buttock! I was coming home from work on the Subway in Toronto. It was my last day on that job and I was carrying my work clothes in a bag along with my lunch kit and some other stuff, all under my arms. I had to get off at the Bay St. Station to see if something I had lost was at the Lost and Found there. Of course, since construction jobs let out at 4:30, I hit Bay Street just in time for all the office workers who get out at 5:00 to be heading home. Well, when I had to get out, I was faced with a wall of people trying to get in, and I realized that if I got jostled at all, I would lose all my stuff and it would get trampled before I could pick it up. Now the etiquette is supposed to be that people getting off have right of way, but that wasn't working this time, and there was this great big meat head coming straight toward me. I quickly turned sideways to him, and rotated my shoulders further so that the things I had under my arm weren't in line with my hips, and when he ran into me I let him have the buttock thrust. I purposefully waited `til he was against me so that it was a push, not an impact. I wanted to move him, not hurt him. In any event, he went flying backward, and fell spread-eagled on top of two or three rows of other people that were behind him. I can still remember the look of total astonishment on his face as I stepped past him." One final note here. John Panter went on to become the head of the Taoist Tai Chi Society's entire Atlantic Region in Canada. I remain just another average Black Belt level martial artist...

In conclusion, this book is a fun read for entertainment, cut-to-the-core insight, and deadpan satire. Smith has a sense of amused perspective on oneself, history, and the fighting arts. The writing style is great, and I highly recommend it. Just remember that the author intended this as a spoof!

I wrote a previous review of this book before I had ascertained John F. Gilbey's likely identity. This book (and Gilbey's other two books) purport to be written by a wealthy textile scion who holds an 8th degree black belt in judo and a 5th dan in karate.

It seems likely that John Gilbey is really Robert W. Smith, a well-known authority in several arts who most readers here will no doubt recognize. I hadn't made the connection until recently, but I'm pretty sure about it, for two reasons.

In "Secret Fighting Arts of the World," Gilbey has a habit of peppering the text with various literary quotes. In Smith's recent book, "Martial Musings," he does the same thing. Moreover, the overall somewhat choppy writing styles are very much the same. He does this to a lesser degree in "Chinese Boxing, Masters and Methods."

Not sure why I didn't put this together earlier, but I'm sure other people have already figured this out. Anyway, whether this is the case or not, I've enjoyed these books very much and hope there will be more.

One final comment for the unaware. Be sure to take many of the more fantastic claims in this book with a grain of salt. To mention just one of these (which actually occurs in the next book, "The Way of a Warrior," but anyway, it's the best example) Gilbey meets a young exponent of an Icelandic art who claims to use the energy of black holes to put a significant dent in a metal beam in a train station in Rejkyavik.

Well, there are no train stations in Iceland and never were. They don't even have any trains to speak of, except for a small-gauge railway that I understand no longer operates.

So remember, you've been forewarned!

Don't get hung up on fact vs. fiction. If you want to know the backstory on this book, read "Martial Musings"(come to think of it, read it even if you don't). I pull this book out whenever I want to relax. I know I sound too much like a beer commercial when I say it's light, fun, and goes down smooth. Smith's writing style ( I've not revealed any secrets here, have I?) is somewhat reminiscent of Mark Twain. He weaves a tale well, peppering his prose with apt quotes and deadly accurate observations. Don't buy this book to learn how to wipe out your neighborhood, buy this book to sit back and smile.

Reminds me of a cartoon of a guy standing on a chair and holding his pant legs up as high as he could; the caption read, "Now, go on with your story." Much of it is obviously contrived: the men allegedly interviewed around the world all speak fluent English, use similar mannerisms, and quote American statesmen! LOL

As a teenage martial arts fan I thought this book was riveting. Now I wonder if anyone really believes the account of the "Parisian Halitotic Attack" (bad breath attack).

Read magellan359's review for a theory on who's behind the pseudonym. The picture of "Don Eagle" on page 134 bears a striking resemblance to the Donn on the back of the "Practical Karate" series of books. My rating is an average: 1 (lowest) as a training book, 5 for being a howl --a collection of shaggy dog stories.

Very well written, entertaining book. While telling engaging war stories with a foundation of essentially irrelevant detail (dates, individuals' names, names of exotic locales, cultures, etc.), the author sneaks bizarre, very funny, satirical "fighting secrets" into the stories. He manages to keep a straight face throughout and keeps the big punchlines to such a minimum that the reader can easily fall into the trap of taking the book seriously. Great book.

A well-written, amusing and very entertaining book. There is just enough substance to some of the tales related within to make the serious student do a real "double take", and investigate further. On the other hand, Mr. Gilbey seems to have had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek on a few occasions. A train station in Iceland? If you don't get that one, you need to be studying a lot more than just martial arts.

This book is an entertaining, funny read, not to be taken seriously as some of the reviewers have. Really guys, did you think that the "Ganges groin Thrust" or the "Macedonian Buttock" were for real?

I originally read this book some 10 years ago. I found it interesting because an art that I began practicing in Korea in 1983 was "Profiled" in the book. I was never really sure of the precise heritage of my art, but Mr.Gilbey`s seems correct. But, with years, I found some of his information to be fictitious.A story that comes to mind is in the final section where he claims a man left a fist impression in a steel stancion! Please....! My original copy of this book was from the 1960`s -the author probably never assumed the world would grow so knoledgeable! Overall a good book.

Of course the techniques in the book are ridiculous. It is fiction, If you feel ripped off after reading this, you really need an emergency injection of humor. The stories are hilarious, well written, and hit at all the pretentiousness and delusions of the martial arts community. Great for yourself or a perfect gift.

An excellent book. The style of writing ensures that you won't put the book down till you have read it in its entirety and when you have done so you will be coming back to look at specific techniques in greater depth. Most of the techniques covered in the book are already lost to us in the present time. We can only marvel at the fact that there were giants in a bygone era. If you serious about the martial arts then you must read this book.