American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China Paperback – December 27, 2007

What a great, unique book. Matthew Polly is a gifted storyteller. In American Shaolin, he shares the true story of his decision (with just one year remaining until his graduation from Princeton) to take off to China, locate and train with the Shaolin monks until he can cross off "coward" from his "Things that are wrong with Matt" list. This list figures prominently in the book and proves a wonderfully entertaining and useful literary device.What Polly gives us is a very good, well-written personal memoir. If that's all this book were, it would be enough. You find yourself fully engaged in the journey of self-discovery and personal development and you find yourself constantly laughing at Polly's stories. What's great though, is that you get a lot more from this book while you are being entertained.At a time when China is emerging onto the world scene in a huge way, Polly provides a completely accessible glimpse for the average American into the Chinese mindset. You come away from the book with a much greater understanding of and appreciation for the way the Chinese live, the goals they share, how their culture is like ours, how it is different and how they think. It's a truly valuable education, but without the trouble of slogging through a dry social sciences book.Congratulations to Mr. Polly, who was clearly aware of the opportunity to educate while entertaining. He accomplished his goal in spades. Highly recommended for anyone who likes a great story and/or wants to know more about China.

Let me begin with the bottom line -the book is wonderful.The author has an excellent sense of humour, and the writing is fluid and interesting. From the moment I started reading it, I couldn't stop- the book is that good.The story is told in a captivating manner, and feels very personal. As a result I was quite disappointed when I got to the last page, as I really wanted him to stay longer in the temple (that way the book wouldn't end...) lolAs a lifetime practicioner of several martial arts, I ampathized with Polly as he went through the training, especially since traveling to China in order to train in the temple is one of my oldest dreams.If it also one of yours, don't hesitate to read the book, as it may be as close as you will get to the real thing.

Being a martial arts buff and having lived in China for 5 years myself I found this story to bring back some great memories about China. While I didn't actually live in Shaolin myself since by the time I arrived in China Shaolin had become a foreign tourist trap, I did end up in a small city and some of the stories he shared from the 90s were very similar to those I experienced in the early 2000s. China's economy may be the fastest growing economy in the world, but the Chinese mentality has barely changed in all its years of history, and thus most things have remained the same. It's funny that in retrospect a lot of the things which then caused stress are now great anecdotes filled with humor. I think a lot of his views and understandings are universal and anyone who has ever lived in a foreign land will probably appreciate the stories found in this book. For that matter any expat living on China, or any person who has lived in China will be able to relate to some of his stories.The author is funny, witty, curious, and has an incredible understanding of Chinese culture. This book is a great, nice, quick (in short bite-sized chapters) and pleasurable read and i highly recommend it.In short, if you're into foreign cultures, buddhism/daoism, Martial Arts, Zen buddhism, live abroad or have ever lived in a foreign culture, or if you're just into a great story, then you should read this book.

As an enthusiastic lifetime student (and teacher) of numerous martial arts (Judo, Jujitsu, Karate-Do, Tai Chi, Qigong) I have read a great number of books on the Asian martial arts. When I saw this book (366 pages, soft cover, American Shaolin by Matthew Polly) on Amazon for a bargain price on Amazon I purchased it.I do not usually care to read biography books; however, I found this fascinating book a very compelling read. The author pulls no punches as he relates his experiences in finally locating an authentic Kung Fu school in China. This interesting book chronicles the two years he spent in China studying Kung Fu with the Shaolin Monks. The author relates not just the Kung Fu lessons but also gives an honest account of life in China for the average person.His experience in Communist China reveals both the good and the bad progress in this country. There is still extreme poverty as China moves forward using Capitalism principles rather than collectivist ideas in their search for economic success on the world stage.If you are into the Chinese martial arts (or other Asian systems) you may want to check out this wonderful book.Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Chair/Seated Tai Chi, Qigong, and Yoga for seniors and the physically challenged).

This book is essentially a coming of age told in the first person. Mr. Polly has a very keen eye for culture, and manages to write about them in a respectful and sometimes hilarious way. It gives an excellent snapshot of the Shaolin temple and by extension China just as they were opening to the rest of the world. Highly recommended!

I always dreamed of doing wha the author did. But life happens and the fantasy gets further every day. But Mr Polly’s hilarious, snappy, informal prose transported me to Shaolin as if I was there. Now I’m happy. My martial arts journey is complete.

I throughly enjoyed this fun memoir. The author really relays his experiences and memories in a way that drive the reader along. It never got dull and i never lost interest.

But it is a good read.

A super fun, informative & interesting read. There are so many cool little facts that you will learn from this book.

Superb Book

Feeling insecure about his manliness, the book's author decided to drop out of school and go and train Shaolin Kungfu at the Shaolin Temple in China. After arriving in China he did not know where the Shaolin Temple was, asking the locals, they gave him conflicting statements, including it no longer exists, he turns out it had been destroyed but was now rebuilt and he managed to find it. After doing traditional Shaolin for three months he switched to Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) because they seemed to be much better at fighting.If you are looking for Kungfu stuff, there is a explanation of how Iron Body (body toughening)techniques such as Iron Forearms and Iron Crotch are done along with some basic Sanda theory. Some Iron Body techniques can cause deformitys, Iron Fist causes oversized hands, Iron Spear Hand results in all fingers been crushed to the length of the pinky and all the Iron Head practitioners had knots on their head and spoke with stutters. Amazon has restrictions on what can be said in reviews so all I will say about Iron Crotch is that it sounds very painful to practice!The book claims that the two finger handstand some monks can perform is only possible for teenagers, adults have greater bone and muscle density making them too heavy for two fingers to support.A lot of the book is about Chinese culture, the current economic changes and what it is like to be a white man there in the 90's.I found this book is be a fun and informative read.

Man kennt das ja aus Film und Fernsehen. Ein Junge wird von allen in der Schule verprügelt und hat nach vielen blauen Flecken eine Idee - er will Kungfu lernen, um es den ganzen Unterdrückern heimzuzahlen. Karate Kid lässt grüßen!Solche Geschichten erfinden kann jeder, doch Matthew Polly hat sie selbst erlebt, und liefert in diesem Buch einen Bericht über seine Jahre als Kungfu-Schüler im chinesischen Shaolin-Tempel. Man muss den Mut und Durchhaltewillen Pollys wirklich bewundern, denn ganz so einfach, wie er sich das selbst vorgestellt hatte, läuft die Geschichte nicht, denn er hat nicht mit den kulturellen Eigenheiten Chinas gerechnet.Man kommt beim Lesen kaum aus dem Grinsen heraus, wenn er das rückständige China der frühen 1990er Jahre beschreibt; neben dem allgegenwärtigen Begafftwerden (ein "laowai", ein Ausländer, war damals in der chinesischen Provinz noch eine Sehenswürdigkeit!) und den Sprachproblemen wird nicht gespart mit extrem lebensnahen grausligen Schilderungen über den nicht-vorhandenen Hygiene-Standard der öffentlichen Plumpsklos, lebensverachtende Krankenschwestern und äußerst korruptionsbereiten Kampfkunstschulen-Vorständen. Dabei ist immer ein Augenzwinkern, und man freut sich über jede kulturelle Falle und jedes Fettnäpfchen, in das der zu Beginn so hilflose Polly tappt, um dann aber später auch mit ihm zu fiebern, als er endlich als Kämpfer anerkannt seinen Weg zu gehen beginnt.Interessant ist die Sichtweise des Autors: Bei allem langsam gewachsenen Verständnis für fremdartige Kultur, bei allem Willen, sich in sie hineinzuversetzen, bleibt er doch fest bei seinen amerikanischen, cocacola-durchtränkten Wurzeln - besonders deutlich, wenn er das chinesische Konzept des "qi" erklärt, und dabei schreibt: "They believe that qi courses through the human body like the Force in Star Wars (...)" (S. 93). George Lucas hat offensichtlich alles richtig gemacht, wenn Henne und Ei so selbstverständlich vertauscht werden.Das Abacus-Taschenbuch überzeugt mit schöner Aufmachung und angenehmen Schriftbild. Die Schwarzweiß-Fotos im Mittelteil beweisen nicht nur den tatsächlichen Aufenthalt Pollys, sondern lassen auch viele der Personen noch lebendiger werden, als sie es durch Pollys witzige Schreibe eh schon sind.Ein großartiges, hinreißendes Buch über ein China, das es so nicht mehr gibt, und über eine wirklich beinahe unglaubliche Reise zum Erwachsenwerden, das ich völlig fasziniert in einem Rutsch durchgelesen habe.

great book to read I had allot of laughs when reading this book as well as gained knowledge about the monks, martial arts, and china. i would recommend this to any one that is interested in martial arts and is willing to learn about a different cultural.