Zen and Art of Street Fighting . . .

[Seifer2399]

Has anyone checked out this book? "Zen and the Art of Street Fighting" by a karate black belt from 'Nam named Jack Sabat I believe (flipping through some books at the good ol Barnes and Noble).
There's a chapter in there where he really gets on kickboxers' cases, saying that it's just a cheap alternative to dedicating yourself to budo. My first reaction to this guy is another Frank Dux wannabe - bunch of years training but a lil dillusional . . .anyone else checkt his out?

Best regards,

Seifer2399

[Nit]

dunno about the above but Zen and the art of motorcycling is a fantastic introduction to life, zen and how to fix you bike on the road.

[Ryu (JKD?)]

I thumbed through it once.

The guy uses Japanese phrases that mean completely different things than what he translates them as in the book...... weird.

Ryu

[hoplite]

Books

HandToHand, I noticed a few of your postings referencing the US Army Combatives Field Manual (FM 21-150). You might be interested in the latest combatives manual FM 3-25.150. It goes into more detail on groundwork than previous manuals. For more manuals online checkout the General Dennis J. Reimer Training and Doctrine Digital Library.

Seifer, I’ve seen Zen and the Art of Street Fighting in the stores too, thumbed through it and decided to spend my money on other things. But you got me thinking about it again and after some searching here are links to a few online reviews I found (some are better than others):

Zen and The Art of Street Fighting True Battles of a Modern Day Warrior A Review
Zen and the Art of Street Fighting (scroll down to the fourth entry)
Zen and the Art of Street Fighting
Zen and the Art of Street Fighting

[kengar]

I dont know about this book but it sounds like a load of crap to me. Get FM 21-150 Combatives Hand to Hand Combat (1992).

If your in it for self defense, for-get this manual. Go find something that applies more to ground fighting, not sport.

[Seifer2399]

Seifer, I’ve seen Zen and the Art of Street Fighting in the stores too, thumbed through it and decided to spend my money on other things.

Thanks for the links. I thumbed through a few more chapters of that book, and I must say that the firt link had the best head on review - it does seem like two authors wrote this book - one spiritual, the other just a hardass wanting to prove that he's tougher than a kickboxer.

It got me thinking of what my instructor told me about the "decline" of martial arts (please not starting flaming here, take with grain of salt) - where all the "do's" gave a bad name to the "jitsu's" - one meaning "way of" and the other stemming from "warlike". One took what worked and put it right to use, the other decided to find all the other "hidden meanings" and ways to use MA. . .

I guess this is all relative to what the person's reason for training is - if they want more self discipline and confidence, yes, they'll be preaching all the do's. If the person training wants to fight for the sake of self defense, or winning, or anything having to do with FIGHTING, then the jitsu's will be their bread and butter.

I commend Jack Sabat on his dedication to the way of the martial artist - but pounding makiwara till your knuckles bleed will not temper you for a rear naked choke sunk right in you . . .or a tightly cinched armbar . . . or a heel hook . . .or a . . . damn . . . let's hope he doesn't get "mixed" up with a MMA guy . . .

Best regards,

Seifer2399