List who you think the best instructors are in order of their superiority.

List the books you think are well worth a read.

Can I say Bruce Lee?

The only "real" JKD book is the Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee only publish 1 book which was way before the JKD years. The Tao of JKD was put together from his notes so it is unknown if parts would have been added or taken out. Ay other book about Bruce Lee was published without him. So, the Tao is your best bet as far as books any others are the authors personal ideas only. The afighting Method books are ok but again made without Bruce Lee and may be completely different than what he would have done.

Instructors, the only two original students to be fully trained, Bruce Lee did not teach everything to everybody-depended on if he felt they were ready or really able to handle more, were Jerry Poteet and Dan Lee (NOT INOSANTO!). Yes Inosanto did get a certificate but only because he would not stop nagging about one. They were good friends but it was more in an effort to shut Inosanto up. The other students were actually offered one since Inosanto got one, none were interested. Turns out they should have Inosanto made a lot of $$ from it.

Look at Jerry Poteets web site he lists certified instructors there. Tim Tackett would be a good source as well I guess. Any instructor that starts talking about Kali, Phillipino MA etc, forget it it is just MMA training.

I personally recommend 'The Tao of Jeet Kun Do' and 'Bruce Lee's Fighting Method'. The first is actually pretty interesting as all the techniques are organized, and drawn by Bruce Lee in a time where all he could do was this back as his back was severely injured. As for instructors, most schools that say they teach JKD are frauds. However Dan Inosanto is still alive, and he trained personally with Bruce more than anyone. You'd have to be incredibly lucky to learn from Dan but he has had many students, so you could probably find one. Tommy Carruthers is probably the greatest modern day practitioner, but I am not aware of his teaching abilities.

for books the tao of jeet kune do is considered staple for a student. I also really recommend the newer edition of bruce lees fighting metho, its five volumes, four of them a random organization of his notes based on sections of fighting and one section by a student (now that I think about it bruce may have actually made the first four sections. tao of jkd is a collection of bruces notes to an imaginary student. There are others but these come at the top.

instructors, well a couple things to consider:

official recievers of the art- taky kimura (died before bruce), Dan inosanto (arguably only true lineage of jkd)

unofficial recievers- Jerry Poteet (deceased but many many students live-arguably other legitimate lineage), jesse glover, several other first gen students-especially those from chinatown era or those teaching in seattle Washington

currently recognized instructors- cauthers for his speed and hands, lemar davis for his trapping, burton Richardson for his evolution in inosantos methods, paul vunak for his training methods

there are plenty other instructors just as good, n they for the most part (if not always) come from the lineage of someone above

good lineage mixes usually contain the names inosanto, poteet, and davis for the older guys, younger guys its more confusing since later in life some of these people made their own organizations making cross training and cross certification a little more confusing.

I won't say which are the best. I will say that if you can find a copy of the book the Bruce Lee Memorial book, it is a great book. It is hard to find and has been out of print for years. It has many of Lees students talking about Lee. It also has several other well known people that knew Lee telling about him also. If you are lucky you might find a copy of this book on ebay. You won't find it in your local book store.

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List who you think the best instructors are in order of their superiority.

List the books you think are well worth a read.