Suggested Reading

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leftsider
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Suggested Reading

Post by leftsider » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:12 pm

So I finished Laoshi's "Taiji Notebook for Martial Artists," and my classics have finally arrived in the mail. I picked up:
  • T'ai-chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions (Wile)
    T'ai Chi Ch'uan for Health and Self-Defense (Liang)
    T'ai Chi Ch'uan: A Simplified Method of Calisthenics for Health & Self Defense (CMC)
Is there any recommended (or suggested) order for someone really at the beginning of their reading? I've only been at GRTC a year and have no previous martial experience.

Aidan O'Brien
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Re: Suggested Reading

Post by Aidan O'Brien » Wed Jun 16, 2010 4:16 am

Well if you're willing to read something other than for Yang style...

You can't go past:

The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taijiquan by Chen Xin

An amazingly in depth book. Written in 1908, only recently translated into English though.

jotrakoun
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Re: Suggested Reading

Post by jotrakoun » Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:18 pm

I don't know about you, but the flat grainy pictures showing taiji postures in books never helped me much, and neither did the questionable histories about taijiquan originating from immortals watching fights between snakes and birds. The Taiji Classics have all sorts of insightful theories in them, but luckily they're freely available online. :) The most helpful books for me were ones that inspired me to practice more, especially ones about the personal experiences of skilled martial artists. Laoshi's 'Notebook' which you mentioned, Jess O'Brien's 'Nei Jia Quan,' R.W. Smith's 'Chinese Boxing' and 'Martial Musings' are some that I could read all day.

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Linda Heenan
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Re: Suggested Reading

Post by Linda Heenan » Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:40 am

I like works by Louis Swaim in particular, and also Barbara Davis. I enjoy the way people who are very familiar with Chinese literature are able to relate passages from the classics to stories, sayings, illustrations and examples of similar period. This often clarifies the meaning of statements from the classics and gives insight into the intended meaning of movements and taiji principles.
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taiwandeutscher
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Re: Suggested Reading

Post by taiwandeutscher » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:50 pm

[quote="Aidan O'Brien"]Well if you're willing to read something other than for Yang style...

You can't go past:

The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taijiquan by Chen Xin

An amazingly in depth book. Written in 1908, only recently translated into English though.[/quote]


As an Yijing scholar with a PhD and more than 25 years of practical experience with the IMA, it was obligatory for me to get this rather expensive work, after the original stood idle in my bookshelf for years. Having translated now more than 80 pages into my non-English mother tongue, I can only say that this translation is very, very inexact and in several places really misleading. I could not recommend it in any way.

The original is really an indepth book, and I wonder how long it will take me, to finish the 1st 2 sections on theories, besides training and work. The small frame solo form is best learned with Chen teachers, not with the book, so not so important for me personally.
hongdaozi

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Suggested Reading -T'ai Chi Ch'uan Ta Wen: Questions and Ans

Post by Scott M. Rodell » Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:42 am

Chen Wei ming's, T'ai Chi Ch'uan Ta Wen: Questions and Answers on T'ai Chi Ch'uan is also a classic well worth having...

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