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The Warrior Within : The Philosophies of Bruce Lee Paperback – April 22, 1996
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
While Bruce Lee is generally thought of as a martial arts specialist who made movies and at 33 died under mysterious circumstances, his public perception does not usually include that of a master philosopher. Little (Precision Training: The New Method To Achieve Optimum Muscularity, Power Factor Pub., 1995) attempts to remedy that in this compelling and interesting book, written with the blessing of Lee's estate. A student of Lee's "jeet kune do" form of martial art, Little was given access to heretofore unreleased personal notes, sketches, and reading annotations. What is revealed is a man who read extensively and was well versed in the philosophies of both East and West. Little arranges his narrative under such headings as "See the Totality," "Defeating Adversity," and "The Warrior Within." There is also an excerpt from an interview Little conducted with the late Brandon Lee (Bruce's son), as well as appendixes detailing Lee's principal works and a chronology of his life. While not an essential purchase, it is a worthwhile addition to public library collections.?David M. Turkalo, Suffolk Univ. Law School Lib., Boston
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
John Little is uniquely suited to the task of relating the philosophy of Bruce Lee and his approach to life. Little has a degree in philosophy from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is the author of two books on health and fitness (having spent over fifteen years as a writer for several fitness magazines), and is himself a student of Lee's art of jeet kune do. Selected by the Bruce Lee estate, Little is the only person who has ever been authorized to review the entirety of Lee's personal notes, sketches, and reading annotations and to edit books on the subject of Lee's martial art and its far-reaching philosophical underpinnings. Little's keen awareness of the subtleties of both Eastern and Western philosophy coupled with a respect for the preservation of the essence of Lee's words and meaning give this book an integrity that is all too rare.
More About the Author
John Little is uniquely suited to the task of relating the philosophy of Bruce Lee and his approach to life. Little has a degree in philosophy from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is the author of two books on health and fitness (having spent over fifteen years as a writer for several fitness magazines), and is himself a student of Lee's art of jeet kune do.
Selected by the Bruce Lee estate, Little is the only person who has ever been authorized to review the entirety of Lee's personal notes, sketches, and reading annotations and to edit books on the subject of Lee's martial art and its far-reaching philosophical underpinnings. Little's keen awareness of the subtleties of both Eastern and Western philosophy coupled with a respect for the preservation of the essence of Lee's words and meaning give this book an integrity that is all too rare.
Selected by the Bruce Lee estate, Little is the only person who has ever been authorized to review the entirety of Lee's personal notes, sketches, and reading annotations and to edit books on the subject of Lee's martial art and its far-reaching philosophical underpinnings. Little's keen awareness of the subtleties of both Eastern and Western philosophy coupled with a respect for the preservation of the essence of Lee's words and meaning give this book an integrity that is all too rare.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
97 of 101 people found the following review helpful
By
Amazon Customer
on January 5, 2001
Format: Paperback
1 Comment
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The book basically describes concepts of how Bruce Lee lived his life, and John Little shows how you can apply them to your life. The main concept in the book is to 'be yourself'. It is about easing up, and not adding complication to things that should occur naturally, such as in breathing. Do we think about how we breathe, and how to take a breath in and how to breath out? No, it is a natural process, and works its best when done naturally.
The primary concept Bruce applies is the empty mindedness concept. Instead of theorizing how to drink each time he drank, ie. hold a cup, tip it slightly, sip, Bruce says to learn to do this naturally. As in, you might have to learn it mechanically at first, but to truly drink or do anything successfully, you have to integrate it into a natural process, without you thinking about it. A quote that I made to sum the book up: "A man's purpose is to find himself and then become totally unconsious of himself."
A story used to illustrate that example is one of a centipede. If a centipede thought about all 1000 of its legs, and which one should go in front of the other in order to walk, he would be forever stumped. This applies to other areas too, such as fighting, etc. If you always think about how to throw a punch each time you threw one, you wouldn't be trusting yourself, and your thoughts would slow you down, it probably would be too late to throw the punch anyhow.
The book is about freedom, as in using what works for you, and not following in his or any other person's footsteps. How can you be unsatisfied when your goal in life is to learn about yourself? Among the only goals in life that can't be achieved is learning about yourself.Read more ›
The primary concept Bruce applies is the empty mindedness concept. Instead of theorizing how to drink each time he drank, ie. hold a cup, tip it slightly, sip, Bruce says to learn to do this naturally. As in, you might have to learn it mechanically at first, but to truly drink or do anything successfully, you have to integrate it into a natural process, without you thinking about it. A quote that I made to sum the book up: "A man's purpose is to find himself and then become totally unconsious of himself."
A story used to illustrate that example is one of a centipede. If a centipede thought about all 1000 of its legs, and which one should go in front of the other in order to walk, he would be forever stumped. This applies to other areas too, such as fighting, etc. If you always think about how to throw a punch each time you threw one, you wouldn't be trusting yourself, and your thoughts would slow you down, it probably would be too late to throw the punch anyhow.
The book is about freedom, as in using what works for you, and not following in his or any other person's footsteps. How can you be unsatisfied when your goal in life is to learn about yourself? Among the only goals in life that can't be achieved is learning about yourself.Read more ›
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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful
By
Grant Reynolds
on November 16, 1999
Format: Paperback
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This book proves that philosophy can be both powerful and relevant to everybody's life! I'm a teenage girl who has suffered from low self-esteem but Bruce Lee's teachings have opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at life! Now I see and..more importantly.. understand that we are all the same and that looking at others as "different" or "better" or "worse" than us is truly the mind's worst disease. John Little is a masterful philosopher himself to have seen and presented such a deep philosophy in such an enjoyable manner. And with this book, he has shared Master Lee's brilliant and penetrating observations on love, relationships, racism and life. What a mind-opening book. I call it "therapy for the sane!" Read this book and really get to know about life.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By
MSU_L1
on July 21, 2001
Format: Paperback
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I would like to thank the authors for presenting such useful information. A few things that really impacted me were: 1. Bruce Lee felt that to strike back to people who are aggressive shows weakness. 2. He really worked his stomach. I have worked out for years and once I read about his stomach work I felt the affects immediately. 3. I love his thoughts on stress managemnt. I always kind of knew when I ate junk food that it was somehow related to stress. Now that I practice stress reducing excercises, I eat less junk food and I have no desire to eat it. 4. I appreciate his philosophy on total health. Like I said, what I read has totally changed my ideas on a lot of things. Thank you for an awesome book!
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By
John Gibney
on January 14, 1998
Format: Paperback
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Coming from a background that includes a long-term interest in martial arts, Bruce Lee and philosophy, I had a hunch that a book that combined all these interests would be good value.
I was not disappointed :)
John Little has written a book that is easy to get involved in and helps the reader to understand the differences between Eastern and Western approaches to living a satisfying life. By using smallish sections within each chapter, he has created a book that is easy to pick up and read for a short time and yet still learn a lot.
I particularly enjoyed discovering the contrasts between Bruce Lee's views and those expressed in the classic texts of Chinese philosophy, such as the Tao Te Ching and the writings of Chuang Tzu.
In short, a most accessible and enlightening book about Bruce Lee's "way of no way".
I was not disappointed :)
John Little has written a book that is easy to get involved in and helps the reader to understand the differences between Eastern and Western approaches to living a satisfying life. By using smallish sections within each chapter, he has created a book that is easy to pick up and read for a short time and yet still learn a lot.
I particularly enjoyed discovering the contrasts between Bruce Lee's views and those expressed in the classic texts of Chinese philosophy, such as the Tao Te Ching and the writings of Chuang Tzu.
In short, a most accessible and enlightening book about Bruce Lee's "way of no way".
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By
D. Smothers
on February 17, 2010
Format: Paperback
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I own quite a few Bruce lee books and Dan Inosanto books. This book was pretty cool but honestly it wasn't anything I didn't already know from reading the others, a lot of it was common sense. Most of what I read was about being a good person and not letting others get to you, stick to your goals, etc etc.I don't really feel its worth the money to me but I could see the benefit others might have buying it. I'd recommend just buying "The Tao of Jeet kune do", its much more detailed in the martial arts area/philosophy which I think is what most people are interested in when they think of Bruce lee.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By
A Customer
on October 15, 1999
Format: Paperback
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After reading Tao of Jeet Kune Do , and absorbing some of the concepts and applying them to how I view the world and finding it changed my life for the better , I was hungry for more Bruce Lee philosophy. This book does an excellent job of interpreting Bruce's philosophies and is an excellent supplement to Tao of Jeet Kune Do. A fufilling and enlightening read which aims towards the core of Bruce's philosophies--helping a person develop their own philosophy.
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