I’m really excited to announce the release of my two new inspirational philosophical self-realisation books using martial arts and Zen to get you through the pandemic – just in time for Christmas. The Art of Thinking Without Thinking This book is a biblical collection of inspirational philosophical and spiritual teachings packaged into zen-style koans designed …
Andrew J. Stanton, author of Jan Fan journal from Martial Arts Illustrated magazine, introduces himself and the book launch, as well as providing a small demonstration of Jeet Kune Do.
It’s quite interesting that even though Bruce Lee was known as a fighter, a martial artist or movie star, he was in fact a very deep philosopher too. Bruce was an avid reader who kept a personal library with some 2000+ books on a broad range of topics including martial arts and philosophy. Over the years his writings have been published in various books about his work and which are inspired by his work. Here are, in no particular order, 10 Top Bruce Lee books.
Move your body, move your mind, move to your success.’ — Lak Loi.
Master Your Life is a unique, motivational literary experience for readers, inspired by the teachings of Bruce Lee. Lak Loi is a third generation instructor in Bruce Lee’s martial art and philosophy, and in this book he teaches you how to:
Tap into your ultimate potential
Align yourself towards your personal liberation and self-actualisation
Achieve your personal success goals
Allow Loi to guide you on a nine-stage self-mastery journey, focussing on a different area of development in each chapter. Loi uses the secrets of the martial arts to help you live a life of excellence — by cultivating not only your body, but also your mind. He calls this Martial Mind Power. This exciting expedition will help you create a state of aliveness and fluidity that allows you to get on top of your game, control your own life and soar to success.
As Bruce Lee said, ‘Self-conquest is the greatest of victories. Mighty is he who conquers himself.’
Compiled from Bruce Lee’s notes and essays and originally published in 1975, this iconic volume is one of the seminal martial arts guides of its time. The science and philosophy behind the fighting system Lee pioneered himself—jeet kune do—is explained in detail, depicted through hundreds of Lee’s own illustrations. With the collaboration of Lee’s daughter, Shannon, and Bruce Lee Enterprises, this new edition is expanded, updated, and remastered, covering topics such as Zen and enlightenment, kicking, striking, grappling, and footwork. Featuring an introduction by Linda Lee, this is essential reading for any practitioner, offering a brief glimpse into the mind of one of the world’s greatest martial artists.
During his lifetime, legendary martial artist Bruce Lee formulated a complex personal philosophy–a synthesis of Eastern and Western ideals–that extolled the virtues of knowledge and total mastery of one’s self. However, most of his philosophical writings could be found only within the personal library of the Bruce Lee estate–until now. The Warrior Within is the most comprehensive volume of these teachings, meant to help you apply Lee’s philosophies to your own life. This unique guide reveals such life-affirming secrets as:
Seeing the totality of life and putting things into perspective
Understanding the concept of Yin and Yang
Defeating adversity by adapting to circumstances
Tapping into inner spiritual forces to help shape the future
With a foreword by Linda Lee Cadwell and photographs and other memorabilia from Bruce Lee’s short but celebrated life, The Warrior Within is an engrossing and easy-to-understand guide to the little-explored world of Bruce Lee. John Little has been identified as “one of the foremost authorities on Bruce Lee in the world” by Black Belt magazine. He edited a three-volume series for the Bruce Lee estate and has written articles for several publications, including Men’s Fitness, Official Karate, and Inside Kung Fu.
“A teacher is never a giver of truth he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst.” Bruce Lee
Within the pages of “Striking Thoughts,” you will find the secrets of Bruce Lee’s amazing success as an actor, martial artist, and inspiration to the world. Consisting of eight sections, “Striking Thoughts” covers 72 topics and 825 aphorisms from spirituality to personal liberation and from family life to filmmaking all of which Bruce lived by.
His ideas helped energize his life and career, and made it possible for him to live a happy and assured life, overcoming difficult obstacles with seeming ease. His ideas also inspired his family, friends, students, and colleagues to achieve success in their own lives and this personal collection will help you in your journey too.
Sections include: On First Principles including life, existence, time, and deathOn Being Human including the mind, happiness, fear, and dreamsOn Matters of Existence health, love, marriage, raising children, ethics, racism, and adversityOn Achievement work, goals, faith, success, money, and fame On Art and Artists art, filmmaking, and actingOn Personal Liberation conditioning, Zen Buddhism, meditation, and freedomOn the Process of Becoming self-actualization, self-help, self-expression, and growthOn Ultimate (Final) Principles Yin-yang, totality, Tao, and the truth.
Learn the secrets to obtaining Bruce Lee’s astounding physique with this insightful martial arts training book.
“The Art of Expressing the Human Body,” a title coined by Bruce Lee himself to describe his approach to martial arts, documents the techniques he used so effectively to perfect his body for superior health and muscularity.
Beyond his martial arts and acting abilities, Lee’s physical appearance and strength were truly astounding. He achieved this through an intensive and ever-evolving conditioning regime that is being revealed for the first time in this book.
Drawing on Lee’s own notes, letters, diaries and training logs, Bruce Lee historian John Little presents the full extent of Lee’s unique training methods including nutrition, aerobics, isometrics, stretching and weight training.
In addition to serving as a record of Bruce Lee’s own training, “The Art of Expressing the Human Body,” with its easy-to-understand and simple-to-follow training routines, is a valuable source book for those who seek dramatic improvement in their health, conditioning, physical fitness, and appearance.
– A rare, never-before-seen collection of Bruce Lee’s private letters and writing! Bruce Lee was an intense man with such sheer concentration of energy that no one who encountered him, on screen or in person, could help but be drawn to him and his enthusiasm for life and knowledge. A voracious and engaged reader, Lee wrote extensively, synthesizing the thought of East and West into a unique personal philosophy of self-discovery. “Bruce Lee: Artist of Life” explores the development and fruition of Bruce Lee’s thoughts about gung fu (kung fu), philosophy, psychology, poetry, jeet kune do, acting, and self-knowledge.
This volume from Bruce Lee’s private notebooks is capped by a selection of Lee’s letters that eloquently demonstrate how he incorporated his thought into actions and advice to others. Also included are multiple drafts of select compositions, showing how Lee’s thought evolved and was refined over the years and how the ideas he was reading and writing about were reflected in his work and everyday life.
Sections include: Gung Fu—reflections on gung fu, psychology in defense and attack, how to choose a martial arts instructor, and Bruce’s own view on the martial artPhilosophy—regarding human understanding, Taoism, Plato, Socrates, and DescartesPsychology three types of philosophy, the top dog and the underdog, the four basic philosophical approaches, and learningPoetry ‘The Dying Sun, ‘ ‘Love is a Friendship Caught on Fire, ‘ ‘Once More I Hold You in My Arms, ‘ and ‘Parting’Jeet Kune Do–The Liberation toward personal liberation, notes on JKD, true mastery, and an objective evaluation of the combative skill of Bruce Lee, by those who know what it isActing what exactly is an actor, the art of actingSelf-knowledge in search of someone real, self-actualization, and the passionate state of mindLetters ‘The True Meaning of Life–Peace of Mind, ‘ ‘Use Your Own Experience and Imagination, ‘ and ‘It’s All in the State of Mind’
A behind-the-scenes look at the life of the most extraordinary martial artist of all time Bruce Lee. “Bruce Lee: The Celebrated Life of the Golden Dragon” is a photographic catalog of all facets of this fascinating man, from the start of his career to his untimely and tragic death in 1973. This book reveals a quiet family man behind the charismatic public persona. It shows the real Bruce Lee the man who was so much more than an international film and martial arts celebrity.
This brilliant photo essay compiled and edited by Bruce Lee expert John Little with the assistance of Lee’s widow, Linda Lee Cadwell reveals never-before-published family photos, including rare photos of Bruce’s childhood in Hong Kong. Tender moments with his children are caught on camera and action shots from his martial arts films are shown.
With a preface by his daughter Shannon Lee and a foreword by wife Linda, the text is drawn directly from Bruce Lee’s own diaries and journals. Based on the award-winning Warner Bros. documentary, “Bruce Lee: In His Own Words,” sections include: Chronology of the Life of Bruce LeeEarly Years why he began studying gung fu (kung fu) and took up wing chun, his first starring role, and his return to the USHollywood why he got the part in “The Green Hornet,” teaching Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant, filming “Enter the Dragon,” “The Way of the Dragon,” “Fist of Fury” and more, training and acting with Chuck Norris, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dean Martin and Sharon Tate, and the creation of Jeet Kune Do (JKD)Family meeting Linda, having children, daily life
“The Tao of Gung Fu” reveals Bruce Lee’s thoughtful analysis of the tapestry of Chinese martial arts offering glimpses into the varied styles and his commentary on these arts. Lee’s intense curiosity led him to accumulate this knowledge and expose the limitations of strict adherence to tradition, which inspired him to develop his cosmopolitan “way of no way.”
“The Tao of Gung Fu” includes insights into various Chinese martial arts and training methodologies, sketches of martial arts techniques, Lee’s personal scrapbook of his famous thesis, “The Tao of Gung Fu.” Witness Lee’s personal cultivation of excellence in martial arts. His application of philosophy to physical movements epitomizes the unification of mind and body a genuine way of living for the martial artist.
Chapters include: What is Gung Fu? An Introduction to Chinese Gung Fu, On Yin and Yang, and Bridging the Gap of Yin and YangSome Techniques of Gung Fu The Fundamentals of Gung Fu, The Basic Striking Points of Gung Fu, Introducing the Wing Chun Straight Punch, and The Practice of FormsTaoism in the Chinese Art of Gung Fu On Wu-Hsin (No-Mindedness), On Wu Wei (Nondoing), and Centered ThoughtsIdeas and Opinions Traditions and Histories of Chinese Gung Fu, The Question of Psychic Center, and Bruce’s view on Gung FuAppendices Bruce Lee’s gung fu background at the time he wrote this book, Gung Fu terminology, and Letters and gung fu scrapbook
“Letters of the Dragon: Correspondence, 1958-1973” is a fascinating glimpse of the private Bruce Lee behind the public image.
So much has been written about Bruce Lee the martial arts superstar whose combination of strength, agility and charisma are legendary but seldom are we able to see beneath the veneer of Lee’s public image to view his inner self. Bruce Lee Letters of the Dragon does just that offering a highly personal view of the man through the letters he wrote to his close friends and family from his teenage years right up until his untimely death in 1973 at the tender age of 32.
This unparalleled collection of Bruce Lee’s own personal correspondence begins with his high school days in Hong Kong and continues throughout the period when he was working as a successful actor in America and in Hong Kong, right up until the time he died. During this period he was also developing radically new concepts about Asian martial arts including his own Jeet Kune Do martial arts system. In these letters we are able to see clearly all the optimism, tenacity, integrity and intense loyalty for which Bruce Lee is known and adored by millions of fans today. More than a fascinating chronicle of his rise to superstardom, these letters offer intimate glimpses of the artist, husband, father and friend behind the legend.
Bruce Lee belongs among the top echelon of influential stars and iconic figures in the world. More than 35 years after his death, he remains a perennial bestseller in video stores, comic bookshops, on T-shirts and posters. He has influenced pop culture more than anyone before or since. Lee was named among Time magazine s 100 most influential people of the 20th century. He has achieved the iconic status of a cultural legend and has had a greater impact on more people worldwide than Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean combined.
In this unique and intriguing landmark book, you will discover a compilation of exclusive interviews with Bruce Lee s original students, close friends, co-stars and colleagues. Those who knew him best give their candid views on the great martial arts master and action movie star adored by millions around the globe. Their memories and stories capture him in a way no straightforward narrative ever could. Furthermore – for the first time ever – you will discover exclusive interviews with some of the best professional Boxers, bodybuilders, UFC fighters and personalities from the motion picture industry paying homage to the legend who continues to have an indelible impact on athletes and people from all walks of life.
To your delight, you will be treated to over 50 compelling and thought-provoking interviews. Fighter, film star, philosopher, teacher, fitness aficionado: Bruce Lee continues to reach us even though his light was extinguished over three-and-a half decades ago. This is a unique and fresh insight into a man whose mysterious life proved one of the most startling enigmas of the century. Bruce Lee: Conversations is the ultimate tribute to the man whose legacy continues to grow worldwide.
