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List Price: $18.95 | | Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Salesrank: 390821
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Editorial Review:
A rare, never-before-seen collection of Lee's private letters and writing, offering insight into the many facets of his life, including his poetry, life philosophies, and his thoughts on martial arts, love, fatherhood, friendship. A fascinating look at the man behind the myth.
Artist of Life (Bruce Lee Library) Reviews:
A true artist of life 
2009-11-11 - This is an excllent collection of Bruce Lee's thoughts on art, martial art, acting, psychology & life in general. It captures the evolution & refinement of Bruce Lee's thought process from his Gung Fu days to his Jeet Kun do days.
Good Addition to Library 
2009-07-12 - I enjoyed many portions of the book, especially the evolution of his article on Jeet Kune Do. Even the section on acting revealed how naturally Lee applied his self-knowledge approach in martial arts with other facets of his life. I dog-eared pages and underlined a few passages and see that Lee's writing frequently gave me pause for thought. Sad that Lee's life was cut short and it would've been fascinating to see where maturity and added life experiences might've taken his efforts.
Bruce Lee Artist of Life
2007-11-25 - Bruce lee Artist of life
Bruce lee Artist of Life is probable the best book I have ever read for several reasons. For one it is written by probably the best know and most talented Martial Artist of the twentieth century. This book consist of personal journal entries made by Bruce Lee. It contains topics such as Gung fu, Philosophy, Psychology, Poetry, Jeet Kune Do, Acting, Self-Knowledge then it ends with personal letter written by Bruce Lee.
Gung Fu section lee begins the article by saying ,"Gung Fu is a special kind of skill, a fine art rather than just a physical exercise or defense." Couldn't agree more as a participate in the fine art of martial arts. Really if your some what intrigue by Bruce lees philosophy you should read this book. In the Gung fu chapter of this book ,taken from handwritten notes by Bruce lee, he cover such topics as The center of the Oriental arts were he goes into deep discussion about such things as philosophies of Taoism, Cha'an (Zen),Meanings of gung fu, and what they mean to him. Other articles deal with his personal reflections on how he views and interrupts Gung fu and it's teachings. The chapter goes on with other essays he's written such as
Reflections on Gung Fu - Deep views on the stages of a "Gun Fu Man"
Teach yourself self-defense -Tips on self defense, for example "expect to get hurt", "Ignore the pain, instead of giving up use it as a spur to counterattack and victory"
Psychology in defense and attack -Explain how to overcome the mental aspects of a fight and the advantages and disadvantages of size.
How to choose a martial arts instructor -"Believe half of what you see and definitely nothing that you here" Before choosing an instructor you must see if he has what it takes to back his statements.
The unity of Gentleness/firmness -What's necessary for combat in terms of gentleness to firmness ratio.
My (Bruce Lee's) views on Gung Fu -Essay on how he views Gung Fu.
The next chapter consist of essays regarding philosophy. Lee's philosophy are more refined than those of lets say Socrates. He tends to deal with more humanizing issues dealing with matters pertaining to the inner self of humans being. For example human understanding, then he gets into really advanced philosophy which ,you really must be quite intelligent to decipher the meaning. Some examples of that are his essay on "Living in the oneness of things" , The unity of firmness and softness, Taoism, Yin - Yang, Wu-Hsin(No-Mindedness),Wu We(non-action),The letting go(must read essay). He also goes into his opinion on Plato, Plato's "Gorgias" and Socrates. After that in this chapter there's a essay entitled The nature of human beings in which he is truly inspiring. To me Bruce Lee is much more than a martial arts superstar he's probable one of the most genius thinker of the 20th Century .After that he writes about meditation and what it means to him (how he applies it to his life). Part 3 is the psychology section which is as genius as the philosophy section with topics such as The Relationship of the Organism to its Environment. Not only is Bruce lee a brilliant thinker he's an excellent poet. Here's an example of one such poem :
The Dying Sun
The dying sun lies sadly in the far horizon
The autumn wind blows mercilessly.
The yellow leaves fall.
From the mountain peak,
Two streams parted unwillingly
One to the West, one to the East
The sun will rise again in the morning
The leaves will be green again in spring.
But must we be like the mountain stream,
Never to meet again?
-Bruce Lee
His poems alone could have made him an incredible voice in the world of literature. However, Lees writing ability surpasses the creative mind to which poets need to write. Lee's genius transcends that of an average human being into the realm of a religious figure. Which is probable why he is worshiped in some tribes in the forest of Asian (True!).Part 5 is entitles Jeet Kune Do - The Liberation. It includes essays on the meaning of Jeet Kune Do: The way of the intercepting fist. It also contain multiply drafts of his essay entitled Toward Personal Liberation (Jeet Kune Do).Part 7 is on Acting. This is a list of essays in which Lee philosophies about the meanings, job, self-actualizing, self-made actualization, and the Art of Acting. Part 7 Self-Knowledge. It contains eight different draft of lee's personal essay entitled In My Own Process. The book ends with Part 8,Letters. There are six letter in this chapter written to
-Pearl Tso A friend of the lee family written in September 1962
-Taky Kimura An assistant instructor for Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.
-2 to Jhoon Goo Rhee the farther of Tae Kwon Do in North America
-Larry Hartsell a student of Bruce Lee's Los Angeles Chinatown school.
If any of these topics interest you ,you should order this book right now. I was amazed at how philosophical lee was. The amount of detail and time it would of taken him to write all these essays on all of these topics to better understand himself. This is a man who truly wanted to get the deep meanings of his self ,Martial Arts, and the things in the environment around him. I have read this book 3 times straight through and I often pick it up to read certain essays which pertain to what I'm looking for. If you do decide to give this book a try I would suggest that you really take a thorough approach to reading this book. As in explore the meanings and how they apply to you and your life as an individual. Good bye until we meet again.
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The most revitalizing book that has ever came my way!
2007-06-18 - This book is seriously a very influential masterpiece brought to you mostly by Bruce Lee's essays, poems, quotes, and personal experiences throughout his existence with us. This all came together with the help of John Little too though, so some regards should be left to him as well. But as far as a compeling book goes this one should leap off the shelves into your arms! Don't miss this opportunity to read into who Bruce really was and not just another book on martial arts and how to become a so called, "Master!" This is one to read and fully grasp for sure!
Get into his mind...
2005-12-24 - This is just my 2 cents. I've always been interested in what else Bruce had to say, besides things of just in the martial way. This book is a great addition to anyone's library. You get to see what is going on in one of the Legends of our time. I thank you that the information was shared with us. It can bring positivity, inspiration and creativity. Thank you for your time.
