Words of the Dragon: Interviews, 1958-1973 by John Little

Words of the Dragon: Interviews, 1958-1973 Reviews

• 
  East Bay J

  I loved Bruce Lee as a kid and, albeit for different reasons, I still love the guy. There may be a thousand martial artists with Lee’s ability and drive (doubtful) but only so many have the charisma and wits to parlay that into an acting career. Jackie Chan and Jet Li come to mind.
  
  This is why it’s fascinating to read about Lee and a lot of what makes Words Of The Dragon interesting. A collection of interviews and articles spanning the length of Lee’s career, Words Of The Dragon contains a lot of Lee’s ideas, philosophy and wisdom.
  
  Of course, this would act better as a companion piece to a Lee bio, which I’ve never read. Reading this book leaves one with a lot of questions, whereas reading this after a bio would serve to fill out the picture.
  
  Fun for Lee enthusiasts or a good introduction to the way (or non-way) of Bruce Lee, Words Of The Dragon is a good read.
• 
  NON

  This is the first book from the Bruce Lee Library series. It's not the best and I kind of didn't enjoy the content. It's not because of a fault of the editor (John Little) or the subject (Bruce Lee) but this book is all about the press reports on Bruce Lee during his lifetime and I'm not really fond of the media because of their tendency to never report the truth, fabricate, assassinate characters and racism and the latter is presented in every article of the book. However, I salute the editor for giving us such account that illustrate what it was like during those years, for those of us who were not born then and the Notes section in which the editor corrects wrong information or clarify points is what made the book worth reading. However, it would've been better if the title wasn't misleading, "words of the dragon" gives a false impression that these words are from Bruce Lee, it would've been better if it were "words about/on the dragon".
• 
  Cullen Haynes

  This short yet delightful read, replete with collections of newspaper clippings, interviews and documentary conversations provides a refreshing glimpse at the man behind the revered legend; Bruce Lee.
  
  His life mysteriously cut short, Words of the Dragon provides one with a means to understand the real Bruce Lee, his philosophy and his real life personal and professional struggles with marriage, his peers, racism and Hollywood.
  
  In content rarely found in one place, this is one read I'd highly recommend for those wishing to know more of Lee's long road to martial arts mastery, international stardom and fact separated from fiction.
  
  What endears me more towards the late great Lee was his unquenchable desire to learn and timeless love of reading.
  
  C
• 
  Alex

  If I could go back in time and have lunch with anybody, Bruce Lee would probably be up there in my top 5 choices. I picked this up with a desire to learn more about Bruce the man and the icon and this book accomplished that to some degree.
  
  What turned out to be the really interesting part, however, was how many of the newspaper interviews were contradictory, wrong, or had just plain made things up (there are plenty of footnotes telling you when they got it wrong). Instead of being turned off by this, I found it to be a fascinating if unsettling look at how the media can so often distort or misrepresent the facts.
• 
  Michael

  Interesting read, but very repetitive and redundant.
• 
  Piper Winchester

  A little repetitive at times but all in all, another enjoyable read from Bruce Lee 🐲.
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  Rahmat Romadon

  Gw salut klo baca2 catatan interview dgn sang legenda kungfu ini, kata2nya begitu lugas, langsung, dan to-the-point, gak neko2 dan real bgt deh krn emg orang lapangan bukan tipikal pemimpin dojo yg kerjanya duduk2 aja. Buku ini must have tahun ini.