I remember browsing through the martial arts section in the bookshop when this compilation of personal interviews caught my eye. Compiled by Jess O’Brien, who in his capacity as Martial Arts Editor for North Atlantic Books, has had the oppportunity to meet with many of the leading masters of chinese internal martial arts in the USA. These masters, including notables such as Tim Cartmell and Bruce Kumar Francis, give their insights about the art they teach and in many cases some history and personal experiences as well.

For those with an interest in chinese internal martial arts, this is a very readable book. However, one can’t quite help feeling that there is a certain amount of reservedness found within each interview. For those of you who enjoyed Robert W. Smith’s Chinese Boxing: Master and Methods, the edge given by his candidness in his opinion of different masters and styles is not found here but then this compilation doesn’t aim to achieve the same things. All in all a good read. I wouldn’t call it a must have book as it doesn’t inspire as much as you might think and the masters don’t reveal as much as you would hope, but it is a good book none the less. I particularly enjoyed James Wing Woo recounting the time when Bruce Lee tried to demonstrate and sell Jeet Kune Do to him to which he told Bruce, “Bull Shit Do! You should stick to Wing Chun, you’d be a lot better off!”