Best Taekwondo books

[andyjeffries]

Hi all,

What are the best Taekwondo books you would recommend (ideally Kukki-Taekwondo, but I am a little open to ITF/Ch'ang Hon books).

Some of my current favourites:

2005 Kukkiwon Textbook (the current bible)
1975 Taekwondo Poomse by the WTF
2008 Explanation of Taekwondo Poomsae by Ikpil Kang (excellent resource - review on my blog)
2010 Taekwondo Step Sparring by Sang H Kim
1999 Olympic-Style Sparring by Kim/Chung/Lee
1989 Mastering Taekwondo by Tae E. Lee (my first big book on Taekwondo, pre-ordered and I was so excited!)

I also have Sang H Kim's translation/book of the Muyedobotongji.

I'm trying to learn Korean again (for about the 100th time) so I've just order the Modern History of Taekwondo book in Korean, so feel free to recommend any excellent Korean books.

 

[MaxiMe]

Thanks Andy,
Hey since were on the topic of instructional books. Any of those go into the deeper meaning of forms? Besides the usual this was the sudo for such and so and the pattern represents X since he was born at X. ?

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Taekwondo: Traditions, Philosophy, Technique by Marc Tedeschi

It's around 900 pages give or take. Tedeschi isn't a TKD guy, but the book is pretty thorough in many areas. It covers KKW and ITF stuff as far as forms, sparring, self-defense etc. Lots of photos that are clear and straight-forward. Not saying it is the definitive work on TKD but it contains a lot of information. It isn't cheap though, even on Amazon.

Max,

In regards to the 'deeper meaning' line of thinking, my friend Simon O'Neill wrote a book called 'The Taegeuk Cipher' a couple of years ago. Pretty contoversial and not everyone agrees with 'deeper meanings' and/or his interpretations. But, it does give food for thought and gets the TKD practictioner looking at forms in a new way which is never a bad thing. Rather than just being something you need for the next belt, it looks into things that TKD had originally (and old school TKD i.e. Kong Soo Do still has) such as throws, locks, chokes etc.

 

[StudentCarl]

Thanks Andy,
Hey since were on the topic of instructional books. Any of those go into the deeper meaning of forms? Besides the usual this was the sudo for such and so and the pattern represents X since he was born at X. ?

Not specifically focused on TKD, but I'm enjoying 'The Way of Kata' by Lawrence Kane and Kris Wilder (I found it on Amazon). It's not a book of answers but principles for discovering applications within forms. Very thought provoking.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Not specifically focused on TKD, but I'm enjoying 'The Way of Kata' by Lawrence Kane and Kris Wilder (I found it on Amazon). It's not a book of answers but principles for discovering applications within forms. Very thought provoking.

I'll second Carl's recommendation. Iain Abernethy has several books and DVD's on the subject as well. One of them, 'Bunkai Jutsu' is a very good read, as is 'Karate on the Ground'. On Iain's website you can download several e-books, the Pinan series is good as is 'Comprehensive Karate'. Of course, his stuff is based on Shotokan Karate, however TKD is related to it in many ways and by looking at what is offered in Karate Kata you can fairly easily translate that into Korean Hyung. Whether or not the Koreans realized those interpretations were there when they devised the Korean forms is debateable. Regardless, very good information that, in my opinion, can take your forms training to a new level.

 

[MaxiMe]

Thanks folks,
Looks like I need to do some book shopping/web surfing.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Thanks folks,
Looks like I need to do some book shopping/web surfing.

Here's some places to start;

Iain's website and article page with downloaded e-books and articles.

http://iainabernethy.co.uk/articles


Jissen e-magazine is a free downloaded e-mag with worldwide contributions.

http://jissenmag.com/

Totally TKD e-mag is just like Jissen above but for TKD.

http://totallytkd.com/

 

[Archtkd]

I've always thought the following books are excellent resources:

1. The Book of Teaching & Learning Taekwondo- Official publication of the World Taekwondo Federation -- published by the WTF and Jungdam Media
2. The Textbook of Taekwondo Poomsae, published by the Kukkiwon. It accompanies the official Kukkiwon DVD set.
3. Taekwondo Kyorugi by Kuk Hyun Chung and Kyung Myung Lee (translated by Sang H. Kim)