# The Making of a Butterfly - a very good book



## Xue Sheng (Mar 28, 2007)

Not sure where to post this, but I am talking about a book so The Library seems as good a place as any.

The views of an old CMA guy on The Making of a Butterfly, by Phillip Starr

This is a good book that I highly recommend to any martial artist whether a beginner or advanced. It gives you a glimpse into what training use to be like in the early days of martial and it also gives insight into many things that are applicable today in both life and Martial Arts training as well.

I started MA roughly 10 years after Pete Starr started training with Master W.C. Chen and although my first Sensei trained us hard (Jujitsu, no protective gear, no mats) it was not as hard as what W.C. Chen required of his students and sadly this type of teaching is all but gone today. It still exists, but it is rare. 

The Making of a Butterfly has helped me make a decision about the path of my training and it also pointed out rather large holes in my current training as well, I will admit some are due to age and laziness on my part. It also reinforced my feeling as to why we still train with weapons in CMA styles and the need for correctness of form. I do truly feel that any martial artist can benefit by reading Pete Starr&#8217;s book.

But with that said I can also see that I am looking at this from the Point of View of a Martial Arts Dinosaur (and a guy that took penmanship in elementary school) and that the views of those younger than I or with less time in MA may not agree. Modern ideas for training tend to be very different from mine. Look at any post I have made or been involved in on Stance training and you will get the point I am making there.

I also find myself wondering about Yilichuan, the Martial art developed by Pete Starr based on his training with W.C. Chen. If there where a school near me I do believe I would likely be going to check it out, (not that I don&#8217;t have enough people I call Sifu already).

Regardless The Making of a Butterfly is a very good book that I highly recommend. I wish I had the opportunity to train with W.C. Chen but I also have to wonder if I would have survived the training.


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## Jade Tigress (Mar 28, 2007)

Thanks for the review XS. I'm going to have to check it out.


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## arnisador (Mar 28, 2007)

Thanks for sharing!



Xue Sheng said:


> The views of an old CMA guy on The Making of a Butterfly, by Phillip Starr



I take it this is our own *pstarr*?


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## Jade Tigress (Mar 29, 2007)

arnisador said:


> Thanks for sharing!
> 
> 
> 
> I take it this is our own *pstarr*?



It most certainly is.


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## Jade Tigress (Mar 29, 2007)

I had to order it. I'm looking forward to the read.


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## Xue Sheng (Mar 29, 2007)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It is a great look at old School CMA training that is VERY hard to find these days. 

It did honestly help me make a decision about the whole one to many sifus thing and other training related decisions as well. (Maybe more on that later, but then again maybe not)

Enjoy the book and let me know what you thought.


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## Flying Crane (Mar 29, 2007)

I appreciate the review.  I have seen the book on the shelves for a while and have been wondering about it.  Thanks for giving your thoughts, I just might check it out.

By the way, I also had penmanship in gradeschool.


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## Jade Tigress (Apr 17, 2007)

Xue Sheng said:


> I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It is a great look at old School CMA training that is VERY hard to find these days.
> 
> It did honestly help me make a decision about the whole one to many sifus thing and other training related decisions as well. (Maybe more on that later, but then again maybe not)
> 
> Enjoy the book and let me know what you thought.



I am thoroughly enjoying this book. I'm only on Chapter 10 but I can say it is a well written, entertaining, insightful, and inspiring book. Thank you Pstarr. :asian:


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## pstarr (Apr 17, 2007)

I'm thrilled that you like it!!!  It really was fun to write....and now I'm putting the finishing touches on my second book which is an instructional book...


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## Drac (Apr 17, 2007)

Jade Tigress said:


> Thanks for the review XS. I'm going to have to check it out.


 
Ditto....


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## Jade Tigress (Apr 18, 2007)

pstarr said:


> I'm thrilled that you like it!!!  It really was fun to write....and now I'm putting the finishing touches on my second book which is an instructional book...



Awesome! I'll be looking forward to it.


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## pstarr (Apr 18, 2007)

Great!  It'll probably be out late next year- if I ever get the photography work completed...


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## Carol (Apr 18, 2007)

pstarr said:


> Great!  It'll probably be out late next year- if I ever get the photography work completed...



You should hire Bob...his photography is excellent.


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## pstarr (Apr 19, 2007)

I might do that if he lived close to where I'm located - out in the great Midwest...!  We're about done, though -


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## Shuto (Apr 21, 2007)

I just started reading it yesterday and I'm enjoying it very much.  There is one chapter where the author describes using his martial art to do everyday things like opening a door.  I practice taijustsu, not CMA, so I wasn't familiar with the terms used but I tried to apply it to my art as best as I could and have been practicing it ever since.  I now try to use a similar technique to flip light switches and I also applied the foward at an angle/backward at an angle movement we are taught while I was searching for some edamame at our  grocery store this morning.  I'm having a blast applying this simple concept.   

Thanks for recommending this book.

edit
Shizen, it's not just for the dojo anymore!


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## pstarr (Apr 23, 2007)

I never did figure out how to train while I'm sitting in the tub...


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## Shuto (Apr 24, 2007)

pstarr said:


> I never did figure out how to train while I'm sitting in the tub...


 
I work on my breathing but perhaps there's a Fish Posture in your art you could try. :wink2: 

Also, there's that whole flowing like water thing that you could observe and try to emulate. Be the water!

See, it's not that hard.


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## Shaderon (Apr 24, 2007)

I'm going to put that on my Amazon wish list.... not that anyone buys me anything off my wish list ever but I'm working through it slowly 

Congrats pstarr, I've not read it yet but judging byt the reviews here then I know it's a good un.


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## pstarr (Apr 24, 2007)

Thank you!  I hope _somebody_ is kind enough to take your Amazon wish list seriously!


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## crushing (Aug 20, 2007)

pstarr said:


> Great! It'll probably be out late next year- if I ever get the photography work completed...


 
Mr. Starr,    I just ordered The Making of a Butterfly this weekend and saw that Amazon.com is taking pre-orders for your second book, Martial Mechanics.  They show a release date of March 25th, 2008.


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