|
Skills of the Vagabonds II, Behind the Incredibles by Dr. Leung Ting BOOK |
|
Low priced books on Ninjutsu! Ninjutsu is the martial arts form practiced by Ninjas and it is also one of the most unique martial arts forms there is! |
Skills of the Vagabonds II, Behind the Incredibles by Dr. Leung Ting BOOKThe second volume is, from a Western point of view, more coherent in scope, and is virtually all material of interest to skeptics. There is a traditional Chinese belief in a life force called "Chi". (Pronounced Chee.) Chi kung (also spelled Qi and Qi gong) is the art of developing and manipulating ones Chi in order to improve ones spiritual and physical health. It is often believed that at the more advanced levels, a practitioner can develop superhuman abilities and perform incredible feats. This work concentrates on how such techniques can be fraudulently produced. A large number of such stunts and effects are clearly described, in one section of the work. (Would you like to see an example? ) The secrets of performing the stunts are then described in detail in a second, later section. As many of these effects are inherently dangerous, (such as having one's abdomen run over by an automobile), the dangerous stunts are given a danger rating of one to three skulls. Readers are cautioned that they really should not try these things, but should instead leave such things to professionals, if they are to be performed at all. Nevertheless, all stunts are described in full, so if skeptics do find themselves called upon to describe how other people perform dangerous acts, often without harm, this will be a valuable source. This is a great strength of the work, as most mainstream American magic books, for obvious reasons, shy away from describing dangerous stunts leaving us poor skeptics unable to explain many such things. Also described in the work are brief descriptions of the hows and whys of some other paranormal effects, such as levitation, some basic information on traditional Chinese medicinal compounds, as well as a highly favorable report on the CSCIOP expedition to China! All in all, this second volume is highly recommended to anyone interested in a skeptical look at Chinese chi kung claims, if not Chinese paranormal beliefs in general. I recommend it highly. The first volume in the series is a bit more esoteric in nature, and not of interest to everyone, but I have never regretted purchasing my copy, value it highly, and expect others will want one as well. As for the future, there has been talk of a third volume, but it seems to have been delayed much to my chagrin. Perhaps, if skeptics purchase enough of these two, we may get to see it someday. In the meantime, I'll anxiously be awaiting its arrival.
| |||||||||||||||
