Amazon.com, Customer Reviews:
Reviewer: Customer from United Kingdom
January 11, 1999
A Great Book on Principles of Infighting
Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals is mainly about physical principles that are the foundation of many of the techniques of Silat and Kuntao which are the major systems covered in this book.
What sets this book apart from most martial arts is that the bulk of the book principles are all focused on how to "in-fight" i.e. what are the main principles to use when fighting is up close and personal, when you are close enough to bite, head butt, elbow, knee and trip as primary weapons and techniques.
Besides the section on principles the author spends some time on principles on learning martial arts by analyzing his personal learning experiences in learning and teaching martial arts and leads you into understanding and hopefully questioning how you learn and analyze your current training (for those that are thinking of starting up in martial arts or switching to a different "style" see the author's other book "Martial Arts America" is a must read).
Negatives? The book is only 180 pages and $40. The price is justified because the book is filled with large, sharp B&W photo sequences that illustrate the principles and these are expensive to produce. The shortness of the book is really a shortcoming created by the author's excellent analytical and tight writing ability that makes you sad that you came to the end of the book, but for me the beginning (well actually a renewal) of my martial arts journey of discovery.