Customer Reviews
Lovely book but who is it for? - By: R. Agar-Hutton, 23 Nov 2007 
This is a lovely book. Beautiful illustrations & lovely layout. The informationin it is good but I'm not sure that it matches it's title.
Far too much on the Meridian system & far too little on Modern Western Medicine.
I'd like to have seen a much expanded analysis of what the effects of techniques are - what are we doing when we hit someone, put them into a joint lock, knock them unconscious, etc, etc...
The healing section wasin my opinion very superficial & way too biased from an Eastern viewpoint, I think that if it had been balanced by some simple first aid information (Recovery position, how to immobilise a broken or dislocated joint, what to do for bruising, etc.) it would have been a MUCH better book.
Overall, Happy to have this bookin my library, but it would not bein my top five Anatomy & Physiology books.
Better for students of acupuncture than martial artists - By: P. Downs, 20 Jun 2007 
143 pagesin total, 8 pages on martial applications, 10 pages on healing applications, 12 pages on Western views of body systems,4 pages of introduction on eastern concepts of the body, about 80 pages on meridians on meridian points. Theses 80 pages are very detailed. I found the presentation too detailed & lacking much referral back to healing or martial applications. Without this context I found the detail overwhelming. The anatomical references for the various points (and there are 820 of them if you count both sides of the body) requires considerable anatomical knowledge which is not presentedin the book. Eg. "medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve, ulnar nerve, ulnar artery, tendon of the flexor carpi ulnaris muscle". I think the title is misleading because the bulk of the text is concerned with detailed (as opposed to essential) traditional chinese medical anatomy. Great for students of acupuncture but a waste of money for me.
Superb source of reference - By: Dr. Guy B. Gratton, 16 Feb 2005 
This is a paperback, quite glossy, 143 pages. & sets out to cover the elements of anatomy that we needin MA & also healing (shiatsu, accupressure, accuncture, etc.).
After a broad introduction, the first main section of the book covers the basic body modelin each of the Western & Eastern medical theories - it's clearly all fairly basic, but a reasonable overview, with some very clear diagrams. Unsurprisingly, although the western medical descriptions aren't all that brief, the eastern section is much thicker, covering all of the meridians (both the main & extraordinary - although surprisingly it treats Conception & Governor as extraordinary, addingin a further six to those). It also has a thorough listing of the main extra points. Very usefully, against the description to each point, it shows the location, namesin English, Chinese, Korean & Japanese, as well as the Meridian & number - there is also a clear descriptionin terms of Western medicine.
For example, St9, I now know, is also called Ren Ying, Man's prognosis, In Yong (K), Jin Gei (J), & is simultanously the cutaneous cervical nerve, cervical branch of the facial nerve, a branch of the hypoglossal & vagus nerves, a point where the carotid artery branches, the thyroid artery, & the anterior jugular vein (phew, no wonder it's a good KO point!). It also describes & shows where it is.
That, unsurprisingly is the main bulk of the book, but there are two further main sections. The first, "healing applications", describes the main healing methods used with meridian theory - including a very thorough & clear collection of standard treatments (headache release, neck release, etc.) & a couple of pages on recovery techniques - five different techniques are covered, all clearly valid (and three of them new to me).
Then finally (apart from the index) is a section on martial arts applications. This covers the main principles of PP usein fighting (individual point attacks, multiple grouped points, bilateral, points along a meridian, related meridians, flow timing, destructive cycle - called "conquest cycle"in this book) & also shows diagrams of the main martial arts points.
Throughout the theory is reasonably basic but clear, with pretty much all of the basic principles of meridian therapy & fighting included.
Overall, I think that it was a very worthwhile expenditure of a tenner, the author (who claims a 5th danin Hapkido according to the back cover) knows his stuff, explains it well, & did some superb drawings to go with it. I can see my using this a lot both as a teaching aid, & a regular source of learning & personal reference
Very clear, highly organised, a labour of love and wisdom - By: , 12 Feb 2005 I am a new acupuncture student & practising therapist (reflexology, massage, reiki) who is very glad indeed to have found this supremely useful book. I am not a martial artist & want to let others know that I believe this book is genuinely as useful to healers as martial artists. Those studying level 3 holistic therapies who want to understand energy systemsin greater depth should buy this book (it won't break the bank).
The author is clearly a genuinely knowledgeable man & also understands what students need. The book appears to be a distillation of an immense amount of accumulated information & experience & I have a great feeling of gratitudein finding it.
Thank you very much for this most useful book at an extremely reasonable price.
Required reading for any martial artist. - By: , 18 Apr 2002 Covering the subject matterin a clear & detailed manner, this book, while not being the first of it's kind is definately among the best.
The Illustrations are extremely good, & unlike many others is not an 'A to Z', rather an ordanance survey of the Human anatomy.
If you are serious about your study, this is as it's title suggests truly essential reading.
