Martial History Team

   This book should change how everyone thinks of Bruce Lee. Introduction Last month I learned of a new book titled Who Wrote the Tao? The Literary Sourcebook for The Tao of Jeet Kune Do , by James Bishop. I also watched a few  YouTube videos featuring the author. I quickly ordered a copy direct from the author and read the book. In brief, it's shocking. At least 85%, and probably more, of "Bruce Lee's" Tao of Jeet Kune Do is derived, and in many places directly copied or traced (in the case of "Bruce Lee's" drawings) from other authors. The Bruce Lee Library To arrive at this conclusion, Dr. Bishop hunted down the hundreds of books in Bruce Lee's library, digitized them, and then began searching them for phrases found in Tao . One of his sources was the many pictures of Bruce Lee in front of his book shelves, as shown in this Art of Manliness article : Dr. Bishop first pioneered this hunt for the titles in the library in his 2004 book Bruce Lee: D...

  Welcome to the December 2022 book survey, part three. I decided to break this month's survey into three posts. Here is the first part . Here is the second part . Introduction In December 2022, I (Richard) continued my reading plan. The major theme for this month is Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). Some of my favorite books appear in this collection of posts.  The Longsword Teachings of Master Liechtenauer: The Early Sixteenth Century Swordsmanship Comments in the "Goliath" Manuscript, Grzegorz Zabinski, 2014 Although it's possible to find an outrageously priced copy of  The Longsword Teachings of Master Liechtenauer at Amazon.com , I recommend buying directly from Polish Arms , as I did in 2020. My copy of the book is a black and white paperback measuring 6 1/4 inches by 8 7/8 inches, with 596 pages. It appears to be based on the author's academic thesis. "Goliath" is a reference to  MS Germ.Quart.2020 , a compilation of works in German by mul...

Welcome to the December 2022 book survey, part two. I decided to break this month's survey into three posts. Here is the first part .  Introduction In December 2022, I (Richard) continued my reading plan. The major theme for this month is Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). Some of my favorite books appear in this collection of posts.  Medieval Combat in Colour: Hans Talhoffer's Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat from 1467, Hans Talhoffer, Dierk Hagedorn, 2018 My copy of Medieval Combat in Colour: Hans Talhoffer's Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat from 1467 is different from the one shown on Amazon.com , although I bought my copy there in 2020. Mine is 9 1/4 inches by 6 1/8 inches as shown above, while the one currently depicted at Amazon is taller than it is wide. My format makes more sense, as the reproduction of the art matches the orientation of the pages. My copy is a paperback with 320 color pages.  The sour...