Book Review: Greatest Lessons in the Martial Arts

[Harkon72]

Here is my honest review of Greatest Lessons from the Martial Arts: A Compilation of Martial Wisdom by Tim Johnson. Mr. Johnson contacted Patrick to offer a review copy to this community, which was sent to me. As such, I received this book free of charge.

I thought the book was typical of a new age looking general philosophy journal of trendy snip bits.

It has strengths; it's a good looking book, it feels professional and it will appeal to the market of would be martial artists. What strikes me though is the apparent modern look and feel that may be construed as being too new age and fitting of a self help book shelf and not the prey of the serious martial artist.

The visual impact is dramatic and slightly a cliche of oriental images and zen looking scenes. This, to be honest, is why in a book store I might overlook it.

It does have material depth - at times it is quite intriguing. The advice is often sound but there is an underlying gut feeling of a false sense of a pseudo western view of what oriental martial arts should convey. To try and explain; it's almost too perfect a package. It has the feeling of a bargain bin book and this lets it down as it contains real depth if you take time to read it and overlook the glossy cover and the attempt at trendy new age marketing. It has great potential; it could be expanded on. But I feel it could just be seen as a children's introduction to martial arts philosophy; a pocket guide or holiday stocking filler. I'm sure the author has more of an ambition for it than that.

Overall, I would recommend it as an introduction to a view that people might want to follow; but I find the image it portrays unfortunate and different from what I would expect from a book I would take seriously.

All the best; Gareth.

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for the review, Gareth. Very helpful. I had not heard of or seen this title yet, so thanks for bringing it to light here.

[sensei8]

Thanks for the review, Gareth. Very helpful. I had not heard of or seen this title yet, so thanks for bringing it to light here.

Ditto!!