Smoke;
It really wasn't much of a review...so let me ATLEAST give you a table of contents or something.
Ok, first off Mark explains in the Introduction that this is not a technique book like Filipino Martial Arts:Cabales Serada Escrima. And it is not a cultural/historical study like we saw in Filipino Martial Culture, although he does sneek in a bit of history and background on the various Masters and founders of the various arts that are covered in the book. Instead what the book is "one that would present a fair and unbiased presentation of the arts from a training, thoretical, and technical perspective- those things that construct the arts, giving them their individual style, characteristics, and effect their fighting techniques."
The book then reviews 27 Filipino Fighting Arts, which I will list here in a moment. Each chapter begins with a full page picture of the founder or current head of the system. Then the name of the sytem is given with a very brief history of the founder or style. After this each chapter is divided into 4 topics. These are: Training Progression, Training Methods, Fighting Strategies and Free-Sparring. The length of each chapter varies. Mark assures us this is not favoratism of one style over another and has more to do with what the masters were willing to talk about and how comprehensive/complex the actual art is. Each chapter has 3 technique seguences (no explaination, just pictures). Some of the sequences (those of the more writen about styles like Lameco) are reprinted from magazines or from his other book Filipino Martial Culture. Now on to the styles list, which is in alphabetical order:
1 Arnis Defense Silat
2 Bakbakan Kali
3 Balintawak Arnis
4 Balitok Eskrima
5 Bandalan Doce Pares Eskrima
6 Black Eagle Arnis-Eskrima
7 Cabales Serrada Escrima
8 D'Katipunan Arnis
9 Dekiti Tirsia Siradas Arnis
10 Doblete Rapillon Arnis
11 Estililla Kabaroan Eskrima
12 Garimot Arnis
13 Giron Arnis Escrima
14 JKD/Kali
15 Kalis Ilustrisimo
16 Kalis Kalis ng Tinagalogan
17 Lameco Eskrima
18 Lapunti Arnis de Abaniko
19 Latosa Escrima
20 Lightining Scientific Arnis International
21 Modern Arnis
22 Moro-Moro Orabes Heneral
23 Pananandata Marinas
24 San Miguel Eskrima
25 Sayas-Lastra Arnis
26 Sayoc Kali
27 Tulisan Caballero Taga-Herada
And that's about all for now. Mark at one point in the introduction says the following:
"It is only by doing proper research and going to the source that the perpetuation of misinformation so vast and prevalent in this field can be limited and eventually eliminated. With this in mind, any and all mistakes found herein are my own. I thus apologize in advance to the master and practitioners of these arts if I have in any way offended them by my errors."
I think ALL should take that quote to heart.
just my 2 cents
J-MAN
