This unique book will familiarize healing practitioners and martial artists with basic concepts of the human body, as defined by both Western and Eastern medical traditions, allowing those engaged in healing and martial arts to develop a more complete, holistic, and scientifically forward-looking understanding of the body. Overviews of philosophical and conceptual underpinnings are followed by detailed drawings and diagrams of the body's internal systems, as seen by both traditions. Written in a clear and concise style, this beautiful and informative book presents information previously unavailable in any single text, making it an essential work for students, healing professionals, and martial artists. This lavishly illustrated book includes: Over 147 color drawings and 54 duotone photographs An easy-to-understand overview of Western anatomical concepts A detailed overview of Eastern medical principles, including information previously available only in specialized, costly medical texts A comprehensive listing of Oriental pressure points and meridians in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, cross-referenced to nerves, blood vessels, and other anatomical landmarks Twenty essential self-massage and revival techniques Detailed principles of pressure point fighting, as used in traditional Asian martial arts
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Not misleading at all... Comment: This book is hands down the best reference book I've found for Eastern energetic theory that's not a straight up acupuncture school text. The title has been called misleading...considering that it's called "Essential ANATOMY..." I think it's pretty straightforward. It is an excellent resource for why certain pressure points work and their local Eastern and Western anatomy. It has excellent comparisons between Eastern and Western thought and theory. It is not a book of martial arts techniques. Tedeschi has plenty of those, and this one is a cross-reference, not a direct technical manual. So if you're at all interested in "meta-martial arts", this book is amazing; if you're looking to actively learn new strikes or blocks or anything like that, better go with one of his other books (the "Art of..." series seems to be good, although I don't have any of them myself.) Customer Rating: Summary: Elegant Anatomy Comment: This clear, concise, beautiful book is the best comparison I've found of Eastern and Western medicines. If you're interested in exploring the differences and similarities between Eastern and Western healing traditions, this book is a wonderful place to start. It's clear, elegant, and packed with information. It is an excellent source of information on acupressure points for athletes. Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent - to the extent of my "buy-in" Comment: I am a nidan (2nd degree blackbelt), in Uechi Ryu karate. I have been studying karate for 8 years, and I have been studying the significance of pressure points to the martial arts for 6 years. Even so, this area is still somewhat alien to me. I know pressure points work, but this merridian stuff? I don't know...
That perspective colors my review to the extent that since I don't know the validity of merridians, I can't tell how accurate those sections are... I also can't evaluate the interactions of combining pressure points, since none of my karate partners will let me experiment on them. I don't blame them since I'm not anxious for them to experiment on me, except in a simple way. I do know from experience that pressure points do have significant effect, and from that perspective, this book is very helpful.
There are a few charts that seem too crowded for their size (that's why I give it 4 stars instead of 5), which makes me wish I had larger charts... maybe fold out charts. He does sell such charts and they are on my wish list, and some day I'll buy a set.
I really like the health aspect of the book. Most of the books that I've considered don't cover that very well, if at all.
I also really like that Marc approaches this material from a serious, well rounded approach, unlike most of the "popular press".
I like the books by Marc Tedeschi. He has a clear presentation which gives the impression that he is a level headed intellectual kind of guy, who happens to have lots of experience, knowledge and (probably) skill, in the areas he writes about. I feel comfortable reccomending any of his material... in fact, the purchase I am reviewing today (Essential Anatomy), is my 2nd purchase of this book. This time I bought the book for one of my co-instructors.
BTW - if they ever present this book in a typical book size (4x6 or smaller), don't get it. The charts in this book would lose a lot of their usefullness in a small format... Stay with this size (8x11), for all books in this area, if the charts are significant to you.
BTW#2 - If this book ever comes out in a format suitable for a PDA, I'll probably buy that too. Having good charts available while practicing would be very helpful. (sometimes carrying a PDA is easier than carrying "real" stuff) Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent Reference on Oriental Meridians Comment: I was really surprised to see so many negative reviews for this excellent book. I can only imagine that the writers were expecting a book teaching them the art of Pressure Point fighting, and while there is a brief section on both healing and martial arts applications in the book, this work is really about the Meridian and acupoint system of the human body, and it succeeds brilliantly as such. Also to be commended is the author's excellent overview of Western Anatomy and explanations of how Eastern and Western concepts mesh. The book is packed with info, mostly in the form of charts with short explanations. Certainly, you aren't going to learn everything there is to know about TCM, but what a great reference! As an Asian style bodyworker, I love this book. It's the best one I've found yet on Oriental Meridians. It is very straightforward and the Meridan charts are first class. The quality of this book is also first rate: nice stiff pages that read well and will hold up to a lot of pawing and page turning. Buy and study this book to learn the "whats" and "wheres" of TCM. Then find a Master to learn how to apply this wealth of information. This book WILL show you where the points are and how the different points and the meridians affect the body as a whole. Customer Rating: Summary: Not enough martial arts content Comment: I think that the title is a bit misleading. This book does have lots of good information compiled into one source. The problem is that it is more of an anatomy book than a martial arts resource. There are good illustrations though I do not think that there is enough depth or analysis in the surrounding text. Discussions of meridians and pressure points are more suited to acupressure/acupuncture students than to martial artists who are the target of perhaps 10% of the content. There is almost nothing, for example, about how martial techniques work from a bio-mechanical perspective, nor how applications affect the body medically. If you want a good overview that compares and contrasts Western and Eastern thought it's a decent reference, but if you want an in-depth study suitable for serious martial artists this is probably not your best resource.
Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction
