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Book ReviewsBook reviews are the opinion of the web master and are not the official position of S. H. Kim U.S. Tae Kwon Do. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tae Kwon Do Martial Arts (True Books-Sports)
Black Belt magazineOK, so this isn't a book; it's a great magazine. Every issue features over a dozen regular columns, including State of Taekwondo, Karate Way, Full Contact, and Way of the Warrior. In addition, there are feature stories on all sorts of topics, such as the latest martial arts movie, weapons, and dealing with injuries, as well as interviews with champions. My favorite parts are the self-defense articles, featuring step by step photos and descriptions of every move. The photography is outstanding and the details are such that an experienced martial artist can immediately begin practicing and using these techniques. Learn more about this publication at the Black Belt magazine website. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tae Kwon Doby Karen Eden and Keith Yates This is a great book for someone who is considering taking up Tae Kwon Do or has just begun taking lessons. While some of the details don't apply to every school, it gives a good, overall description of all aspects of Tae Kwon Do training and competing. It tells you what to expect at your first class, your first belt test, and your first tournament. It explains dojang etiquette and what is expected of students. The authors describe what it feels like to be a black belt, what it takes to become one, and what a typical black belt test is like. This book will not teach you Tae Kwon Do, but there are photos which will give you the flavor of various techniques and forms. It is well written and an easy read. I rate this an A+ for the beginner student! Martial Arts (True Books-Sports)by Bob Knotts This is an overview of martial arts for very young children or beginner readers. Though it seems a little biased towards the Japanese arts, it acknowledges that martial arts may have started in India and then spread to China, Japan, and Korea. Tae Kwon Do is said to be considered the most popular martial art in the world. This books says everything a parent wants to hear. Martial arts is good for the mind -- developing self control, discipline, a positive attitude, and calmness under stress -- and the body -- making one stronger and healthier. It is not used for aggression, but only for self defense. For the kids, there are great color photos showing people of all ages and races practicing and competing in Judo, Karate, Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Jujitsu, Aikido, and Kendo. The very brief history of martial arts includes photos of a Buddhist monk, a sculpture of a Samurai, and a painting of a Ninja. This is a cute book, but a very quick read. Young children may enjoy reading this book while waiting for Mom, Dad, brother, and sister to finish their workout in the dojang. Modern Taekwondoby Soon Man Lee, Gaetane Ricke This is a good book for helping you to remember your forms. There are photos of each step of 27 WTF forms. However, students from our school will find there are some differences. I checked our Taegeuk forms against those in the Kukkiwon's book, and ours match the forms in there. Therefore, I'll point out the differences I discovered and you'll have to mark up your book (not the school's book!) with corrections. The first two chapters, "What is Taekwondo?" and "History of Taekwondo" are short and sweet. The writing is clear, so you'll breeze through them. The next chapter, "Warm-Up Exercises," is sort of misnamed. It has photos and descriptions of very typical taekwondo stretches, but does not mention warming up. Unless you're an active child or you jog to the dojang, you'll want to do some jumping jacks, jump rope, or easy running before stretching. Chapter 4 is "Basic Techniques" and covers stances, blocks, and kicks. There are good photos and descriptions. The order seems odd, though, showing the advanced crane stance before the ready stance or forward stance, for example, and more advanced kicks and blocks before basic ones. While the photos are excellent, you only see one per technique. You cannot see how the block or kick is executed, only how it should look at one point. In the photos you can't see the difference between "hinge shape block" (what is that?) and "low block." And, one photo cannot really capture a spinning hook kick. Front snap kicks are always shown with toes pointed, though many schools, and students breaking boards, prefer to kick with the ball of the foot. It would have been nice to show some "how to" and "variation" photos of techniques. Our students should note that the bent wrist shown in some photos is not acceptable at our school (except for palm blocks). Chapter 5 is the real meat of this book, covering two Kibon forms, eight Taegeuk forms, eight Palgwe forms, and nine black belt forms. This is the part you'll want to bookmark if you're having trouble remembering your poomse. It's not a substitute for attending class, but the photos and little foot diagrams should jog your memory. In moves where the person's back is facing the camera, they often include a second photo which shows the technique from another angle. There are short descriptions of the meaning of the forms and a diagram of the "Universal Symbol of Harmony." Oddly, at least to me, the black belt forms are listed in English, with the Korean name only given in parentheses. If you're going to use this book as a quick reference guide, you might want to pencil in the Korean names at the bottom of each page. Otherwise, you'll have to remember to look up Decimal when you've forgotten a Sipjin move. The black belt forms shown in the book are Korea (Koryo), Diamond (Keumgan), Taebaek (no English translation), Plain (Pyongwon), Decimal (Sipjin), Earth (Jitae), Sky (Cheonkwon), Water (Hansoo), and Oneness (Ilyo). Students in our school should note these differences. While Kibon El-Jon is the same as our Kibon Hana, their Kibon E-Jang is not at all like Kibon Dool (or Kibon Set, for that matter). There are some differences in terminology in the Taegeuk forms. For example, they call our low block a "low section block" and our out-to-in middle block, a "middle section inside block." Front snap kicks are always shown with toes pointed, but our master examiners prefer that you kick with the ball of your foot. Now for some specific differences in the Taegeuk forms. In Taegeuk 4, step 15, we do a back fist, not a block. In Taegeuk 5, step 2, the stance shown matches the one in the Kukkiwon's book, but some of you may have learned a variation where your feet are together. Different masters at our school have taught different stances for this move; please do whatever your master instructs for this step. In Taegeuk 8, step 2, you should do a double jump front snap kick, right and left, with a ke-up on the second kick. In step 18, do a double punch, left and right. [Just for fun, can you find the photos in Taegeuk 3 where the model's hair suddenly changes? Now that's a challenging move!] The next chapter gives a brief overview of breaking. It includes five photos of typical board breaks. This is not a "how to" chapter; they advise getting expert help to learn these techniques. Chapter 8 on sparring describes the various kinds, including realistic and competition. It also includes ten series of photos showing formal one step sparring techniques. In each set, the attacker steps forward with a straight punch and the defender executes a variety of steps to both block the attack and counter attack. These are detailed enough that an experienced martial artist can follow along and learn the techniques. The appendices include a brief description of the Kukkiwon and the World Taekwondo Federation, WTF rules of competition, and a page of Korean taekwondo terms and their English translations. This is a good book to keep on the dojang's bookshelf for students to browse between classes and refresh their memory on poomse. Taekwondo Textbook (English language edition) This book is an official publication of the Kukkiwon. Owners of affiliated schools will want to own this book and make it available to their instructors for reference. Alas, its hefty price tag makes me reluctant to recommend that students buy it. See if you can borrow it from your sabumnim. The first four chapters are on the history, philosophy, scientific basis, and instruction of taekwondo. But, you'll be tempted to skip right to chapter 5, because that's where the photos begin and they are the best parts of this book! There are close up pictures of correct hand and foot positions and descriptions and photos showing how each is used. Stances are shown from several directions and include little foot icons showing the relative position of the feet. This is followed by photos of defensive and offensive moves and basic movements broken down into parts (e.g., four photos showing each stage of a front snap kick or ap-chagi). Chapter six covers the eight taegeuk poomse, nine black belt forms (Koryo, Keumgang, Taebaek, Pyongwon, Sipjin, Jitae, Chonkwon, Hansu, Ilyeo), and the eight palgwae poomse. This is a great reference! Not only is every step of the poomse photographed, including additional views of difficult to see steps, but many are followed up by a series of photos showing the application of various parts of the form. Even a black belt will have "aha!" moments when looking through the application photos. I only wish every step of every form included this useful information. Chapter 7 is Taekwondo Kyorugi. It shows in photos how to defend against various attacks, both armed and unarmed. These may be a little hard to follow if you haven't done similar moves before, but they're worth the effort to learn. They're also one of my favorite parts of the martial arts! Chapter 8 is all about putting on a Taekwondo demonstration. If you need to put on a show, you might get ideas from the sample demonstration programs in section 6. Chapter 9 covers competition rules and interpretations. Training of taekwondo players is discussed in chapter 10. Chapter 11 is about the prevention and treatment of injuries. The first appendix covers the regulations for promotion tests. This section spells out the minimum ages and years of training required for the black belt levels. The rules get more complicated for levels after master. I was surprised to learn there are precise standards for reducing the years and age needed for promotion for those who win major competitions or who win awards for taekwondo from their head of state. The code of etiquette appendix is a combination of common sense, rules you learned at the dojang, and what sounds like Korean manners. For example, "one should refrain from talking while taking a meal, if possible" seems to be unrelated to taekwondo and would be considered unfriendly among Americans dining together. But perhaps this was only meant to cover dining with Korean masters. The next appendix covers referee hand signals. I can't comment on the accuracy or completeness of this topic, but the drawings are a big help in understanding the text. I also don't have the expertise to critique the appendix on equipment specifications, but it seems fine. Please note that if your dojang teaches mainly in Korean, you will likely find the photo rich chapters easy to follow. But if you've been taught in English, you're going to have to make a very long cheat sheet to understand most of the descriptions that accompany the photos. Once they define momdollyo-huryochagi, (body-turning thrashing kick) you're expected to remember it throughout the rest of the book. Also, be prepared for the fact that taekwondo masters are always referred to as men, though students are referred to as men, women, and children. One final point, just for fun. The book occasionally uses "old sayings" that are not at all familiar to me. For example, in the section on preventing injuries, where you expect to read the adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," the book instead uses the saying "conservation of rivers and forests are the pre-requisite to governing a country." Enjoy! |