Reid, Howard

Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Express, 240 pages (1983)
ISBN: 0-87951-606-2

Recommended w/reservation

Mr. Reid discusses the Spiritual and Peaceful elements of the martial arts. The various Tao quotes at the beginning of every chapter add some credence to this. He talks about various styles as an arts rather than sports. He uses various martial arts and lives of various Sensei as examples. By this method he presents martial arts as a means for disciplining, controlling and improving one's ego. The physical gains are secondary.

Mr. Reid does a good job of documenting the origins of various martial arts around the globe, and their tenets. Using examples from various martial arts, Mr. Reid underscores the role of the teacher. In early days, the teacher or Sensei was an instructor, a spiritual master, a doctor, a healer, but with today's commercialization, the status of the Sensei is being reduced to that of an athletic coach.

There was one thing that I did find rather strange about this book. Mr. Reid talks about a South Indian martial art teacher who commands his student that he should not reveal his knowledge of this art of "marman". I find it interesting that although Mr. Panickar Gurrukal's student promises not to divulge his knowledge of this "secret" art, we in the United States find out about it by reading this book. Who knew?!

In spite of this, the book is recommended, especially for beginners.

Annotated by: Khawer Masood (December 1999)

Martial Arts: Karate | Kendo | Kung Fu/Wushu | Xingyi | other martial art: Marman

Topics: breaking | competition/sparring | forms | history | instruction | philosophy | self-defense | training/exercise science | weapons |