# Review:  Me, Chi and Bruce Lee by Brian Preston



## bluekey88 (Aug 27, 2009)

I just finished reading _Me, Chi and Bruce Lee _by Brian Preston.  I really enjoyed this book and cant' recommend it enough.  In principle, it's pretty straight forward, it's one of those books where the author describes his jounrey into some endeavour (in this case martial arts)....part jounrnal, part travelogue.

The book was well written, at times humorous and at other times thoughtful.  Mr. Preston is, starts by describing how he is simply not a fighter...he describes all of his scrapes grwoign up in some detail and basically depicts himself as a passive, writer...not someone who would necessarily be attracted to martial arts.  He then (at the urging of some of his fellow in the writing community) decides to write a book about his expereinces overthe cours eof a year trying ot gert a black belt.  Along the way he gets to meet Royve Gracie at a BJJ seminar, travel to China to visit the Shaolin temple, and attend UFC 57.

What I really enjoyed about this book is that it's not rom the perspective of an expert or master.  Mr. Preston is about as regualr a guy as you can get.  His expereinces, fears, struggles are those of the average person who steps into the Dojo/dojang/kwoon.  As an older beginner, he struggles with flexibility, fitness, job/family/time constraints.  I think this is a perspective that many of us avid MA junkies sometimes lose sight of.

His experiences in China (the Shaolin temple being run like a for-profit business? Where are the real CMA masters?) and in Vegas (watching Jeff Monson prepare for his match on the UFC 57 undercard) are educational and entertaining.

Seriously, check it out.  It's a good read and well worth the $19.95 investment.

Peace,
Erik


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 27, 2009)

Thanks, I may just check this out.

And as a note the real CMA masters of China are in the parks and back streets of China... they sure aren't at the Shaolin temple these days.


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## bluekey88 (Aug 27, 2009)

Yeah, the whole middle section on his trip to China is really fascinating.  Seems a lot of the master fled the country during the cultural revolutuon and never returned.    What the author saw was a really wierd mix of fantasy, wushu and capitalism.  

Peace,
Erik


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 27, 2009)

Many fled the country and the rest went underground. The nail the stands up gets pounded down and they remember that and many of the old guys that are still there do not come out in the spotlight much to attract attention so they stay to the parks, their house, or back streets in the early morning or late a night.


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## bluekey88 (Aug 27, 2009)

Sad, and a bit ironic.  Now it looks as if the current Chinese government is trying to do for CMA's what the Korean government has done for KMA's.  Ah well, the more things change, eh?

Peace,
Erik


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## TinTin_57 (Jul 15, 2010)

Old thread I know but I'm going to disagree, I thought the book was a little boring. Along similar lines was, American Shaolin by Matthew Polly. Now this book and the Brian Preston book I read one after the other and the American Shaolin won hands down.


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