Pentjak Silat Book Review

Guru Sean Stark's second volume in his series, Pencak Silat Pertempuran, is now out and available, through his website, here: PSP

You can also check out his blog, which is in the link list on this page.

If you got the first volume and you liked it, this is more of the same. Much more, actually. Good explanations of the techniques demonstrated, lots of pictures, and a range from bare-handed exercises, to weapons, including short and long blades, and even a bit on basic gun handling.

It starts out with the most simple stuff -- one-person forms, then moves into two-person unarmed material, and progresses to weaponry, same sequencing -- by yourself, then with another. It includes groundwork as well.

If you didn't buy the first one, it isn't absolutely necessary, though it would probably be helpful to have it.

The photographs are black-and-white and clean enough, probably from a digital camera, sequenced left to right, top to bottom, as is standard in such things. The writing is also clean, and even though the book is self-published, the text is edited well and laid out logically, which is sometimes a problem with these things. (I have read self-published books full of little smiley faces in the type, and written so poorly that they were unintentially hilarious -- this is not one of those. Sean's skill at editing, derived partially, at least, from his online silat magazine, is evident.)

If you are a student of Sean's PSP system, this is a must-own. If you are interested in silat in general, there are so few works in English on the subject -- I have most of them, and they don't fill much of a bookshelf -- it's worth having for that reason alone. It is a worthwhile addition to the literature and to a serious silat player's library.

I have to point out three things:

1) The book is expensive. The paperback version is thirty-five bucks, plus shipping; the hardback is forty-five dollars. Even at almost five hundred pages in length, this is a bit spendy for some folks.

2) You can't learn to fight from a book, any more than you can learn how to swim or ride a bicycle from one. If you have some experience in hands-on pentjak (pencak) silat, then you will be able to follow along and make sense of things much better. If not, the material will be academic. This is the nature of the medium, not Sean's fault, and he points it out himself in the book's closing, but just so you know -- the map is not the territory. If you think you can pick up a book or watch a vid and then go out and lay low the local biker bar, best you keep your health and life insurance premiums paid up -- you'll need 'em.

3) Sean also uses a fair amount of Indonesian/Malay terminology. Fortunately, he has included a glossary in the back, and while most of the text gives you the idea in context and in photos, it does get somewhat thick in places. I've been doing, and reading about, this stuff for more than a decade, and there were places where I had to re-read pieces to figure it out.

As a student of a style of silat that shares very general roots but has different branches, there are things Sean does that I don't -- that's to be expected. Fried is different than boiled, even if the shrimp are the same. Naturally, I prefer my way, since that's where I live.

For instance, there is a section on how to switch grips on a knife handle, going from saber to ice-pick, or vice-versa. Basically, the first is how you'd hold a sword in classical point-leading, edge down western fencing; the second, how you'd chip ice with an ice-pick, with the cutting edge forward. I found this drill interesting -- it will allow for flow while performing djurus (Sean uses the Malay double-it plural, djurus-djurus) and is quite useful for this. Sometimes, you want the point or edge up, sometimes down, it depends on your intent.

In a fighting situation, however, once the knife comes into play, my philosophy is to hang onto it -- I know several ways to twirl the sucker around in my hand to change grips, and it's fun to play with these -- they look cool -- but risking a fumble in real-time is not in the cards. When I do djurus with a knife or knives in hand, I don't change my grip. One can with, say, sai, or tjabang, (Japanese or Indonesian tridents) which are balanced and designed for such, but with a short knife (pisau) under the stress of combat, the fine motor skills tend to deteriorate, and why take the chance? Dropping your knife is a bad oops ... !

A philosophical difference, plain and simple.

But these are small cavils, and natural. Sean isn't demonstrating what I know, he's showing what he practices, and that's the reason he did the book, after all. If I wanted to see somebody do it my way, I could go to class, or write my own silat book. Assuming I ever learn enough to do that, which is iffy.

Bottom line: If you have any interest in pentjak silat, either as a player or a writer, you should get a copy of this book.