Another Fascinating Book
It's nice to know I've still got it. I borrowed a book from work because it looked interesting, and proceeded to complete reading it in approximately one day. Started reading it last night, finished about an hour ago, and that's including sleep and work. Yay me.
But it helps to have a good book to read. And I was reading American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly which has too many subtitles but is made of several parts of awesome. I picked it up at first because it looked interesting, what with the title, and the "Iron Crotch" bit, and the pic of the monk carrying a bag of Burger King. I almost put it back, but then I flipped it over and read the blurbs on the back. The last one sold me completely. Allow me to quote it in full.
"A lot of people talk about becoming a real live ninja and don't do a thing. That's bullcrap. But this guy actually did it! In conclusion, Matthew Polly is the complete opposite of a wimpy baby."
--Robert Hamburger, author of REAL Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja Book.
When a book has Real Ultimate Power, how could I NOT read it? And that's not a bad description of what he did. In 1992, he dropped out of Princeton for a couple of years, and went to China to find the Shaolin temple and train in Kung Fu with the monks there. Seriously. He spent two years in China, training, and eventually became a Shaolin disciple. The book is a description of those two years and the weirdness of China in the early 90s, and of a 21 year old on the opposite side of the world than he grew up on. And learning to kick ass. It's really awesome. You can read a more detailed and eloquent review here, which the author even commented on.
And the last little bit about this book, besides the fact that it made me feel even more like I've never done anything? A little bit of synchronity. I was taking a break from reading it before work, and turned on the radio, and guess who was getting interviewed on NPR? The author. Yeah, it makes sense that the author'd be on the radio around the release of the book, but it was still an interesting bit of timing.
And no, I won't tell you the secret of Iron Crotch. But it's exactly what it sounds like, just ask Monk Dong.
But it helps to have a good book to read. And I was reading American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly which has too many subtitles but is made of several parts of awesome. I picked it up at first because it looked interesting, what with the title, and the "Iron Crotch" bit, and the pic of the monk carrying a bag of Burger King. I almost put it back, but then I flipped it over and read the blurbs on the back. The last one sold me completely. Allow me to quote it in full.
"A lot of people talk about becoming a real live ninja and don't do a thing. That's bullcrap. But this guy actually did it! In conclusion, Matthew Polly is the complete opposite of a wimpy baby."
--Robert Hamburger, author of REAL Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja Book.
When a book has Real Ultimate Power, how could I NOT read it? And that's not a bad description of what he did. In 1992, he dropped out of Princeton for a couple of years, and went to China to find the Shaolin temple and train in Kung Fu with the monks there. Seriously. He spent two years in China, training, and eventually became a Shaolin disciple. The book is a description of those two years and the weirdness of China in the early 90s, and of a 21 year old on the opposite side of the world than he grew up on. And learning to kick ass. It's really awesome. You can read a more detailed and eloquent review here, which the author even commented on.
And the last little bit about this book, besides the fact that it made me feel even more like I've never done anything? A little bit of synchronity. I was taking a break from reading it before work, and turned on the radio, and guess who was getting interviewed on NPR? The author. Yeah, it makes sense that the author'd be on the radio around the release of the book, but it was still an interesting bit of timing.
And no, I won't tell you the secret of Iron Crotch. But it's exactly what it sounds like, just ask Monk Dong.