Further Insights into Kenpo was what I intended Kenpo Karate 101 to be. Originally, Unique Publications said they would publish it but it would not come out for about three years. So I took the manuscript back and didn't do anything with it. If I had, my first book would have been out in the 80's instead of 2000. Then I sat down one day with the intent to collect all my work and began to write. What came out was totally different than what I intended. The original draft was done in six weeks. The re-writes took a few months. The book came together smoothly and has since sold about 2000 copies. The title refers to how we label our entry level college courses here in the United States, such as History 101, etc. I plan to update it in 2005. Kenpo history is constantly changing (what history does not?).

Further Insights into Kenpo was to be the first book but became the second. The title was actually an idea given me by Ed Parker Jr. As I went through my articles I realized how much I had learned in the passing years about Kenpo itself and how other arts related to it. Therefore, I added the notes to the original works, which, some say, are just as, or even more, interesting than the original material. What I think is funny about that book is that it is what people urged me to do for years, saying they wanted a collection of all my articles. It was somewhat difficult to get hold of all the stuff I'd published. So I did that and it sells more slowly than the other two books! (You can buy it off this site, you know.) I've had people tell me that the chapter on How to Set Up a Seminar was worth the price of the book alone.

Kenpo Karate 201's numbering refers to advancing knowledge a level, so it cover basic forms only. It took the longest of the books to produce, with lots of technical problems which delayed it by almost 6 months from its original intended publication date.

In October 2000 I approached my then teacher, Huk Planas, about working on Kenpo Karate 201 with me. He agreed when I told him I thought it should be an adjunct to his videotape series. The idea was that using a book to describe motion is not as effective as using a videotape. However, one cannot carry a VCR around, so the book makes sense for storing information not included in the tapes. Huk read the manuscript, keeping it for about six months. We then went over it together, correcting, adding, and deleting information. He approved the final draft. I wrote it, he spent some time with me at the kitchen table adding his ideas, and I published it. That's why it says Lee Wedlake WITH Huk Planas on the cover instead of AND.

If you have all the books, you'll notice that when you put them on the shelf side-by-side that they look like black belts with the black belt degree stripes on the spines. Ed Parker Jr has done a fantastic job with the cover artwork on all of them. 

Thousands of copies have been purchased by Kenpo people all over. The series will go up to Form Six and another book with a working title of Lessons with Ed Parker should be out in 2008.