Product Description

Compiled from Bruce Lee's notes and essays and originally published in 1975, "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" is the best-selling martial arts book in the world. This iconic work explains the science and philosophy behind jeet kune do - the art Lee invented - and includes hundreds of Lee's illustrations. Topics include Zen and enlightenment, kicking, striking, grappling, and footwork. With introductions by Linda Lee and editor Gilbert Johnson, "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" is essential reading for any practitioner and offers a brief glimpse into the mind of one of the world's greatest martial artists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16918 in Books
• Published on: 1975-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Amazon.com
To watch Bruce Lee on film is an amazing experience. Those who have read Tao of Jeet Kune Do, however, know that Lee's prose can also be exhilarating. This praiseworthy and enduring bestseller (mainly written over six months when Lee was bedridden with back problems) compiles philisophical aphorisms, explanations on technique, and sketches by the master himself.

Ingram
An international bestseller with over 236,000 copies sold, this is Bruce Lee's philosophic conception of the art of jeet kune do, in the original words, drawings and thoughts of the late master martial artist/film star himself.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding!
I had the opportunity to see Bruce Lee in action at an East Coast karate tournament in 1969. He wasn't competing but was there as a celebrity guest.

I stood with others at the back of the tournament hall and listened in awe as he talked about having just finished filming Marlow and his plans to leave soon for Hong Kong to begin filming a movie.

Later, I watched him warm-up a great tournament fighter named Luis Delgado. Lee's speed was absolutely incredible. His backfist was nearly imperceptible and his footwork for closing the gap was a blur.

What a loss to the martial arts world that he left us so soon. But we still have this book of his notes. It a wonderful bible, if you will, that will make any martial artist look at his own training to see how some of Lee's ideas can fit.

There will always be the Jackie Chans and Jet Lis who will come along and dazzle us with their screen antics. But Bruce Lee was a seeker of knowledge, a true master of the fighting arts and philosophy. Some of it is in this wonderful book.

As an author of 13 books on the martial arts, I highly recommend this book for every MA library.

A Look At What Made Bruce Lee the Possible Best of all Time!
Tao of Jeet Kune Do is made up of notes written by Bruce Lee during 1970 while he was stuck in bed for six months with a hurt back. Also included are sketches drawn by Bruce to show different stances, attacks, takedown methods, etc. It must be known the book is not for those who just want to be able to beat people up. There are many proverbs included in the story and it challenges you to think and exercise your brain just as much as it challenges you to exercise your body. These proverbs could also be a downside for those with a lesser understanding of things because some of them could seem very confusing, or they may mislead people into getting a different meaning than what is meant to be given from them. Tao of Jeet Kune Do was not originally meant to be a book, but instead a collection of notes, so the information is sort of cluttered around. Included are suggestions on exercise, diet, stretching, attitude, and of course, self defense and attack. For those who study other forms of martial arts, almost all of the ideas behind Jeet Kune Do can be incorporated with these styles. Even if you don't use the book to train yourself it can be a very helpful tool in understanding how Bruce Lee thought and fought, and you can get a grasp of how Bruce Lee trained himself to accomplish all the great things he did. Overall, I thought it was a very enlightening book, and the only downside was the cluttering of the information, which was easily ignorable by the great content, and the confusing proverbs, which may have just been confusing to me, and could be easily understood by someone else.

It is better than any other martial arts teaching
I have seen a little of 9 different types of martial arts and am a black belt in tae kwon do, and I know that bruce lee is deffinetly on to something. This is pure genious.