The Original Martial Arts Encyclopedia: Tradition, History, Pioneers

This book is outstanding! It covers the entire family tree of martial arts from the beginning to current day. This is truly an exceptional work that will educate even a seasoned martial artist about all of the various styles and noteworthy masters and practioners. I highly recommend especially new students read this book and learn about the various styles, masters and practitioners. No matter what style you study you should have some knowledge of all styles to round out your martial arts education. You will gain a better understanding of where your style fits into the history and family tree structure of the martial arts and that will give you more context to understand your own studies. This is one of the books I have listed as essential for any martial artist to have in his or her library. A fascinating read! Kevin Brett is CEO of Kevin Brett Studios, Inc. and the author of "The Way of the Martial Artist: Achieving Success in Martial Arts and in Life!" The Way of the Martial Artist: Achieving Success in Martial Arts and in Life!

This reference work was written and edited by the same authors who wrote the Q & A, "Martail Arts Catalogue" in 1976. This book is more indepth and authoritative. The primary sections are on Tradition, History, and the Pioneers who have helped shaped this multi-faceited idea of what we call "martial arts."The chapters are very good, providing excellent history and coverage. America is probably a little over represented. This however, doesn't mean they should have written less about American martial arts, just more of other traditions.It must also be fair to say, that America has contributed much to the Asain arts and helped expand the arts, for better or worse, where they are today. The photos are neat and add greatly to this book. The writing is sometimes dry, like most reference works are.All in all, it is a book that stands on its own and should be purcahsed by those martial artist who either are interested in history or having a quick refernce at their bookshelf.

I am taking isshinryu karate. It has great techinques.Anyway, This book is da bomb! It has alot of information. Every martial artist in the world should have this book. It goes over many styles in the world. Good pictures! You just can't stop reading it once it is in your hands.Big book.

As a martial artist and role playing gamer, I have used this tome as a research aid many times.I have had the original edition since it first came out, and used it to write generalized martial arts rules for Shadowrun (back in 1st Ed) and Cyberpunk 2020 (posted to the old cyber-rpg mailing list way back when), as well as revising and adding arts for Ninja Hero and The Complete Martial Artist. It's even listed in the Bibliography for Ninja Hero. It's a wealth of information.I'd have given it 5 out of 5 stars if they had been keeping up with current information. I'd love to see a new edition with new information in it, or even a second volume of updates.

If there is ANYTHING you need to know about ANY type of Martial Art, it will be in THE ORIGINAL MARTIAL ARTS ENCYCLOPEDIA. From the popular Jeet Kune Do to the traditional Koei-Kan. From the celebrated Samurai to the mysteries of Ninjutsu. This is a book that any Martial Arts practioner will turn to again and again.