Customer Reviews

Hap Ki Do: The Korean Art of Self Defense

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is excellent for those just beginning Hapkido or are at least low ranking. Advanced Hapkido practitioners would not find it very useful. The photographs are excellent in showing proper hand position and body movements. However, the section on breaking falls is incomplete. The author fails to describe or show proper body positioning for left side, right side, back, and front falls; he only shows the rolling fall. Anyone interested in martial arts should learn in a Dojang with a competent instructor, not from a book. Use this book to supplement your study of Hapkido, not as your only source. With that in mind, I would definately recommend this book.

This book is straight to the point on joint locks and take downs. The book is broken down into chapters by how the joint is locked with varying grabs and attacks. One must already have good control and be familiar with stretching, striking and falling before applying this text. Master Choe's other book (Practical Hapkido Textbook) is a better introduction and includes some striking and falling techniques.

I am a 1st Dahn in Hapkido and find this a good companion book to live instruction. An excellent pictorial overview of Hapkido techniques but falls short on text and explaination of such things as joint lock and pressure point principles. Not a comprehensive text on Hapkido by any means, but a very good start.

Excellent Hap Ki Do book. I'm a taekwondo'er and found this book very easy to understand with big clear pictures for illustration. I've purchased all three of Master Choe's HKD books and found a certain amount of redundancy in the techniques, but highly recommend all three any way. I originally found one of these in the library and realized right away that these books were the best I've found.

I have spent the majority of my life practicing various martial art forms. This is the best book I have encountered thus far. I have gone as far as enrolling my three daughters in his classes and started yet a new form myself - Hap-Ki-Do

This is a great instructional book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is either thinking of starting Hapkido classes, who is a beginner in Hapkido, or even a more experienced practitioner who needs a little refresher or some out of class practice. As others have said, this books is best used when accompanied by classes in a Dojang with an instructor. There are some great pictures and instructions, however, they're are some things that are just too complex to show in the book such as the fine details of hand placement and footwork.

I highly recommend this book

The title is a little disinformattive - this book is very good as a "traditional" Hapkido reference, but if you're looking for self-defence - try something else. Lucky for me I was aware of that fact when buying the book :)
Nevertheless, it is a nicely written book that will give You a good overview of Hapkido from one of the its great masters point of view. So it is definitely worth buying.

I would say if you are new to Hapkido, or looking maby to join a class then this book is a must. I just started several months I use it as a reference. The one thing you will find about Hapkido is there are slight varations fom school to school. The one thing I do recomened is if you are going at a school look at what federation your school belongs to. Just happends my school belongs to this association. I gave this a five rating for couple reasons. The pictures, directions are easy to follow,great if you want to have a reference,or you want to get a friend willing let to practice.The one negative I did find on this book was that it should went over breaking falls better. There isn't to many Hapkido books out there good as this! IT was money well spent, I am giving it ***** !

I purchased the book because of the very good pictures illustrating the various techniques. My one shortcoming with the book is that the arrangement of techniques does not seem to make any sense. While I can not follow the logical progression of the techniques listed, the book does present the tricks in a clear and concise manner.

My wife and I are students of Master Choe of World Hapkido in Spanaway, Wa., and we feel very fortunate. He is an excellent instructor and it shows in the quality of his book. The quality of this book surpasses that of all others I have read on this subject. The illustrations are clear and the directions are concise and uncomplicated. This book is a must for the Hapkido pratitioner. I can say that it has helped me, tremendously, with my studies.