Words of the Dragon: Interviews, 1958-1973

by John Little (Editor)

A collection of Lee's newspaper and magazine interviews reveals his thoughts on his life, the martial arts, stardom, and his cross-cultural marriage

Genres: Martial Arts, Nonfiction, Biography

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[East Bay J · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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".

[Niklas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Words of the Dragon should come with one major disclaimer: "Please read Letters of the Dragon first." This book is a read for advanced Bruce Lee nerds and diehard fans, I would say.

After you've read Bruce's anthology of personal letters and have begun forming your impressions of the man based on his own words, this book adds another layer of perspective. It's awesome to get secondhand accounts about the legend and see how Bruce was perceived by the media in his time.

That said, the media back then, just like the media today, were lazy. Many of the interviews are riddled with errors—and while John Little has, like always, gone to great lengths to correct them in the footnotes, bouncing back and forth between mistakes and corrections quickly muddies what you think you already know.

On the plus side, it helps to repeat some of the facts and get the basics of Bruce's story down pat. All in all, definitely worth the read for dedicated fans.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping to learn a bit about Bruce Lee, in his own words; learn some if his wisdom. This book partially filled that goal, especially the latter parts, when the interviews became more indepth and focused on the man, not just his work.

But what stuck out the most for me is the way journalism works (or doesn't work). The number of inaccuracies and fabrications (according to the endnotes) is astounding. As I was reading the book, I was wondering if the articles would get better and become more accurate as Bruce advanced in his career and spoke with more sophisticated, seasoned reporters. Better, yes, more accurate, not really.

Despite the repititious nature of the format of this book, I found it interesting and educational. I got much of what I was looking for from it.

[Cullen Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, but very repetitive and redundant.

[Rahmat Romadon · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Piper Winchester · Rating 4 out of 5]

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