Bruce Lee – The Coffee Table Book Edition: A Review

Mar. 14, 2013 By: Chris Filed in: News & Reviews

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I recently received a copy of The Treasures of Bruce Lee: The Official Story of the Legendary Martial Artist to review. When I was first asked to review it, I was pretty excited as the book looked pretty cool. Splashed across the cover is Bruce Lee in flying form, with notes about how there are 5 posters and 15 rare facsimile documents and items of personal memorabilia.

I’m a casual Bruce Lee fan. Not a crazy nut, but I do own the box set, and I enjoy watching the fight scenes from the movies on occasion. This book is full of the usual iconic photos that most casual fans have already seen, or will remember from movies, as well as behind the scenes shots from filming & premiers. What I found new and enjoyable were the shots he had demonstrating techniques, and pictures from his classes when he was teaching.

The real treasure, for me, however, was the copies of his letters. There are a number of pieces of memorabilia for the collector from the Chinese language posters, to the tickets/name tags from premiers, and a photo from one of this first demonstrations, but the prizes are the letters. As with all the memorabilia, it’s clear a lot of effort when into reproducing the artifacts as carefully as possible. The letters nearly look like they were actually written with a ballpoint pen, and they give an insight into the mind of Bruce Lee as he corresponds with friends.

The written content itself is pretty basic, as the author dissects the films and Bruce Lee’s philosophies. There’s nothing new and earth shattering here, and he gives Lee the usual credit for putting Chinese martial arts into the consciousness of the western world, and making Wing Chun a household name.

With a cover price of $45, it’s similarly priced to usual coffee table books, and that’s what I see this as. If you’re a Bruce Lee fan, this is a chance to get a little more memorabilia, and some new photos. If you’re a Bruce Lee student, and the letters appeal to you, then Letters of the Dragon is probably a better bet. Conversely, if you’re looking for insight into his fighting methodology, Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method is more in-depth.

But if you want something to flip through and read at your leisure, to give you a light oversight into the life of the most famous martial artist to date, then the Treasures of Bruce Lee is a beautifully crafted book of memorabilia. It’s unlikely to give you any great insights, but it will undoubtedly encourage you to pop in one of his movies afterwards. If you’re interested in it, or any of the books I’ve referenced, check out the Amazon links below for purchasing info.

The Treasures of Bruce Lee: The Official Story of the Legendary Martial Artist

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