American Shaolin

November 20, 2006
In this smoothly written memoir, 98-pound weakling Polly makes the age-old decision to turn his nerdy self into a fighting machine. Polly's quest for manhood leads this guy from Topeka, Kans., to the Shaolin Temple, ancient home of the fighting monks and setting for 10,000 chop-socky movies. As much a student of Chinese culture as he is a martial artist, Polly derives a great deal of humor from the misunderstandings that follow a six-foot-three laowai
(white foreigner) in a China taking its first awkward steps into capitalism after Tiananmen Square. Polly has a good eye for characters and introduces the reader to a Finnish messiah, a practitioner of "iron crotch" kung fu, and his nagging girlfriend. We get the inside dope on Chinese dating, Chinese drinking games and a medical system apparently modeled on the Spanish Inquisition. The last hundred pages of the book lose focus, and Polly doesn't convincingly demonstrate how he transforms himself from a stumbling geek to a kickboxing stud who can stand toe-to-toe with the highest-ranked fighter in the world. Although Polly may fall short in sharing Shaolin's secrets, as a chronicler of human absurdity he makes all the right moves.

December 1, 2006
Scrawny, bullied since childhood, and sick of living with his "Things Wrong with Matt" list, Rhodes scholar and political affairs writer Polly playfully recounts how he rode out pure instinct to leave college, travel to China, and best his inner demons through the art of kung fu fighting. What follows are fun and fascinating stories of his training with the famous monks at the world-renowned Shaolin temple, the birthplace of martial arts and Zen Buddhism. Memorable sections cover his challenge matches against opponents bigger and stronger than he, how he learned mindfulness, his thoughts on iron-crotch kung fu, his run-in with the Chinese mafia, and a crash course on Chinese curse words. Although his reason for writing is unclear, to his credit Polly breaks the stereotype that competition prevents us from knowing inner peace. Along the way, his self-confidence grows, and he learns to laugh at himself as he realizes that new items to master will always crop up on his "Matt list"; that is a normal part of being human. Recommended for large psychology collections.Lisa Liquori, MLS, Syracuse, NY

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.