Over his short but storied life, Bruce Lee became a pop culture icon renowned for his martial arts prowess and portrayal of Chinese nationalism. Five decades after his death, he’s celebrated not only for popularizing the “kung fu craze” of the 1970s but for bridging the gap between Eastern and Western cultures, changing the way Asians were represented in American cinema. Lee was also the founder of Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist), a hybrid martial arts practice that drew from a range of different combat disciplines and influences. Combining elements of ancient kung fu, fencing, boxing, street fighting and philosophy, it’s often credited as paving the way for modern mixed martial arts (MMA). While he never excelled at formal education, Lee was a voracious bibliophile who dedicated his life to personal development and continuous self-learning. Once bedbound with a back injury for the better part of a year, he devoured the works of Buddha, Alan Watts, Lao Tzu and Jiddu Krishnamurti – an Indian mystic who would profoundly influence Lee’s philosophy on life. By his death at 32, he’d amassed a personal library of over 2,500 titles. Primarily centered around Eastern and Western philosophy, fighting methods, and classics of American self-help, find a selection of Bruce Lee’s extensive reading list below.
Bruce Lee’s Reading List
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas (also rec’d by Martin Luther King Jr.) An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes The Undiscovered Self by Carl Jung On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers The Works of Bertrand Russell The Works of Plato Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (also rec’d by Jim Morrison & Ray Dalio) Ethics by Benedict de Spinoza Maxims and Reflections by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe EASTERN PHILOSOPHY The Works of Jiddu Krishnamurti Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (also rec’d by Jack Dorsey & Viggo Mortensen) The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi (also rec’d by Henry Rollins & Joe Rogan) The Works of Alan Watts The Analects of Confucius The Art of War by Sun Tzu (also rec’d by Nipsey Hussle) Bushido: The Soul of the Samurai by Inazo Nitobe Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (also rec’d by Hugh Jackman & Leonard Cohen) Buddhism by Christmas Humphreys The Chinese Classics by James Legge Living Zen by Robert Linssen MARTIAL ARTS / FENCING / BOXING On Fencing by Aldo Nadi Aikido: The Art of Self-Defense by Koichi Tohei Advanced Karate by Mas Oyama Gymnastics for the Beginner by Barry Johnson Championship Fighting by Jack Dempsey Book of Boxing and Bodybuilding by Rocky Marciano How to Box by Joe Louis U.S. Military Boxing Manual Efficiency of Human Movement by Marion Ruth Broer Physiology of Exercise by Laurence Morehouse Wing Chun by James Lee Acupuncture: The Ancient Chinese Art of Healing by Felix Mann Esquire’s The Art of Keeping Fit Combat Training of the Individual Soldier by the US Army Modern Bodybuilding by Oscar Heidenstam AMERICAN SELF-HELP The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (also rec’d by Nipsey Hussle) Dynamic Thinking by Melvin Powers The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz As a Man Thinketh by James Allen The Success System That Never Fails by Clement Stone How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger MISCELLANEOUS The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (also rec’d by Ben Affleck & Bill Nye) Playboy’s Party Jokes & More Playboy’s Party Jokes The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis The Story of Civilization by Will & Ariel Durant The Viking Book of Aphorisms The Works of Shakespeare (via The Art of Manliness)
This is just a part of what I need to get to wear I’ve been trying to do back in my younger days