Regardless if your a student of Filipino martial arts or just a
martial artist thinking thinking of adding stick fighting to your
bag of tricks... Well friends I strongly advise you to go out and
buy yourself a copy of "Modern Arnis:The Filipino Art of Stick
Fighting" by Remy Presas. Now I have own a copy of this book since
way back in 1999 and not a day has gone by that I am not truly
thankful I spent the $16.95 for this beautifully written book.

Now I will be honest with all of you that yes I did have my
misgivings when I discovered this book was published by Ohara
Publications. A company that in the past has really let me down when
it came to the quality of the martial arts reading material the
produce. Yet I have to say Ohara Publications and the late Filipino
martial arts master Remy Presas out did himself when they worked and
labored on this book. I mean you can see Ohara Publications
allowed Remy Presas to truly put all of his years of training,
understanding, insight and heart felt love for the Filipino martial
arts in every page of this book.

To start with Mr. Presas begins the book by giving us the reader a
quick martial arts history lesson as it relates to the beautiful
Filipino stick fighting arts Arnis, Escrima, and Kali. It is also
in this opening section of the book that Mr. Presas also shines some
light on how the settlement and later influence of people from
India, Southeast Asian, China, Indonesia and Spain effected the
development of Filipino martial arts to where there are just about
as many different styles and sub-styles of Filipino stick fighting
arts as there are islands that make up the archipelago that makes up
the Philippines.

Now I know most of you have had a Sensei or a Sifu at one time or
another has told you that you can't learn martial arts from a
book... Well I hate to brake this to you guy, but no matter how well
a book is written no book out there by itself can make you a better
more rounded martial artist. For to become a well rounded martial
artist takes a lot of hard work and real life practice and
experimentation under the guidance of a skilled instructor to tailor
a fighting style to you as a martial artist. On the other hand a
well written book can be a grate tool in unlocking a concept or a
technique that aid in a martial artist growing a well rounded
fighter. So is the case with this book.

I say this because Mr. Presas walks the reader threw many of the in
and outs of Filipino stick fighting arts. From how to warm-up, the
12 zone striking system to the way one should defend against the 12
zone striking system and disarming techniques it all and so much
more is covered in the book. That and unlike many of the other
martial arts reading materials published by Ohara Publications the
photo used in this book are crisp and taken from an angle that aids
not detracts from the technique the writer Mr. Presas is trying to
help the reader gain a better understanding of.

So in closing I leave you all with this... Before any of you hand
over your hard earned cash for a book that insults your intelligence
as a martial artist I hope you all will go out and buy "Modern
Arnis:The Filipino Art of Stick Fighting" by Remy Presas. For in a
lot of ways this book by Remy Presas is really a book as it is a
martial arts seminar in written form...

Out a possible four stars The Goblins gives this book or video....

4 Stars