Customer Reviews

Taekwondo: The State of the Art

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Taekwondo The State of the Art

Authors: Masters Sung Chul Whang; Jun Chul Whang; Brandon Saltz; Foreword and contribution by Master is comprehensive and deals with History, Philosophy, Warm ups; Stances; Steps and Footwork; Blocks; Hand strikes; Kicks; Sparring; and Poomse. The authors have chosen to use illustrations rather than photographs and the results are quite good. Korean terms are used throughout as part of the titles. Headings for almost all sections in the book and all the stances, kicks, strikes, blocks, etc. are included. As always, since English sounds don't always match Korean, the spelling is a crap shoot. Of particular note is the use of G instead of K for a palatal consonant in such Korean words as (Gyoroogi) (sparring) here versus Kyorugi in some other books.

Of all the books I've read, I like this one the best-so far. There is more detail and supporting discussion. As I read the material, I felt like I was being coached by someone who was not only very competent, but also someone who understood the problems of junior belt level students such as myself.

This book will appeal to the serious Taekwondo students no matter what reasons they have for taking Taekwondo. It is only missing discussion of self defense. However, there is a frank discussion in the philosophy chapter that addresses the authors' feelings about the thought processes of people in the discipline about the merits of sportized Taekwondo versus martial art. This is an important discussion and should be read by young Taekwondoists as they determine why they are taking TKD. [For the dedicated student, The Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi interpreted by Stephen F. Kaufman, Hanshi 10th Dan, has even more relevant discussion.]

The book deals with stances, hand strikes and kicks and stresses the rationale behind each. It is detailed in its discussion and maintains the importance of the proper stances and striking technique. The extensive section on steps and footwork is the most comprehensive I've see so far. They discuss transitions from position to position. With these sections the authors build you carefully towards the sections on sparring and poomse(forms) Because of the lengthy build up, only the Taeguk patterns are shown. The authors acknowledge other patterns such as the Palgwe, but focus on the current WTF authorized patterns. The discussion on the patterns is excellent. If read with the preceding material in their book, a student can greatly increase their understanding of why they are doing things and how they may improve. [Please understand that no-one should feel they can learn Taekwondo properly without the instruction of a Master such as Master Seung. No book replaces an experienced teacher, but it offers some insights and additional information that may not come up in the classes very often.]

What makes this book especially appealing to someone like me, is the information about the Taeguk series-the Taeguk is the circle containing the um/yang symbols within the 8 sets of 3 bars. For the first time as a Taekwondo student, I could start to understand the significance. The authors have given us a brief but important opening into the discipline.

In addition, they have advanced an image of the ultimate state to which patterns should aspire. It demonstrates the purpose of each motion.

As a beginning, but serious TKD student, if I could only buy one book on Taekwondo, I would buy this one.

I am not the typical reader of the book: I was never a Takwondoist, nor will I ever be one. My main reason for buying the book was to gain a better understanding of the world of a friend, who is heavily involved in the sport.

I was quite surprised to find that the book proved to be an extremely interesting reading. Of most interest to me were the philosophical ideas explaining how the implementation of martial arts helps in improving oneself. Comparison with "Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai" is inevitable, as both discuss similar ideas, yet the Taekwondo book has a pacifist approach, while the book of the Samurai is quite the opposite.

I was surprised to find that even the descriptions of physical moves, which make the bulk of the book, were interesting, despite the fact I have no interest in implementing them. This is mainly due to their deep discussion on the inner workings of the mechanisms involved, which help everyone who moves his body from time to time gain a better understanding of it.

To sum up, I would say that as my case proves, the book provides a perfect introduction to the world of Taekwondo. It does so by providing deep insight into everything it discusses.

This is a very well written book on all the aspects of taekwando. IT has very detailed drawings for every concept, and covers everything from Sparring to Forms to Self Defense. If you have just started taekwando, this book will show you the basics, the different parts of taekwando, and the history. For older students and black belts, this book will greatly improve your sparring game, and technique.
Also, taekwando: The State of the Art, has some of the most detailed and helpful drawings for forms I have ever seen. I review this book often to check up on the different teguks.
So whether you've just started taekwando, just interested, or have been doing it for years, I highly recommend this book.

Despite several differences with my Master Instructor's system of Taekwondo, this is the book that I recommend to my students. It covers many of what I would consider basics in great detail, and while it may not describe how to do a "360 degree jump back spinning crescent kick" at all, it does describe the basics well enough that a student could work up to that point. Even as an instructor I've found things that I did not know in as much detail before, things that helped me to actualize my own training. I REALLY like the section on footwork. It got a whole chapter which it deserves to have. The poomsae section is as comprehensive as any other book out there right now, FYI it focuses on the Taegeuk Poomsae which is for the WTF practitioners.

Overall, I would say that this is the best TKD book on the market right now. I have yet to buy the WTF TKD Textbook, or look in to getting General Choi's TKD Encyclopedia (ITF), but for the price this is just too right. Like I said, my system has many differences from what is shown in this book partly due to the fact that we do not compete and making an art is our emphasis, but it is still a great book.

This book is perfect for anyone just starting tae kwon do, as well as anyone who has been practicing it for a while, and just needs to refresh their memory. The drawings are very detailed and the explanations are are very thorough. All the kicks, blocks, stances and hand movements are described perfectly, with illustrations more comprehensive than ordinary photos. Also it is a great guideline for forms! I have been practicing tae kwon do for just a little over 3 months, and this book is my companion whenever i practice on my own at home. It has really helped me get ahead in my poomse techniques. I have purchased some other books on tae kwon do, but this is by far the best, and i would highly recommend it! If you practice tae kwon do, this book is a must!

This book covered most of the basic steps, punches, kicks, and blocks for Tae kwon Do and explained the moves very clearly. However, for the more advanced Tae Kwon Do student, it would not be of much help. The best thing about this book was the Poomse explinations. Out of every Tae Kwon Do book I had looked at (and trust me, i've looked at a lot) this one had the clearest step by step instructions.

Well, I'm actually a green belt at C.W. Tae Kwon Do. When I bought the book, I didn't realize it was written by the founders of the club. But the book is truly a great instructional material, many of the questions I've had about turning kicks, backkicks, or just forms in general were answered beautifully in the book, I'd recommend it to anybody!

I bought this my first week of TaeKwonDo. At first it was a little overwhelming. As I learned, the book became a very useful tool. It's really great to practice the physical and read the theory and history behind it in this book. It's a great guide for practicing at home. I recommend this book for any beginner to this sport.

It is hard to remember everything that you learn in an hour class. This book is a handy reference for the things that I have forgotten! My daughter, who is five and also a student in the class, has found the pictures to be easy to follow!
The history section is also interesting!

I read The State of the Art Tae Kwon do by Master Jun Chul Whang. It was a guide to my favorite martial art, Tae Kwon Do. I take Tae Kwon Do and as a practitioner of the sport, I can tell you that this book is very accurate and informative. It covers the 3 aspects of Tae Kwon Do: forms, sparring, and training. I found this to be unusual. Most of the Tae Kwon Do books that I have looked at have stuck to one or two of those topics instead of covering such a wide variety of information. I would recommend this book to practitioners and anyone who may be interested in starting Tae Kwon Do. The best part was the techniques section. It provided very detailed and accurate descriptions of the techniques such as sidekicks and spearhands. Sometimes my master may leave out a small detail about a move and this book helped me correct my mistakes. I would give this book a 5 out of 5.