Traditional Taekwondo: Core Techniques, History, and Philosphy

There is a wealth of information in this little book. Our dojang requires that students testing for their black belts write a one to two page essay on the history of taekwondo. I really like Doug Cook's books on the topic; they are well-researched, detailed, yet written in a manner that allows the layperson with little to no background in martial arts understand the basics. I skimmed through pages that didn't apply to her essay, yet was able to glean enough info to continue reading later passages that were relevant to her test. Her second degree belt test will require an essay on the philosophy of taekwondo, and I feel confident that this book will save us many hours of research.

My grandson just started taking Taekwondo and I thought he would enjoy it , and he is. When I was younger I attained a brown belt in Gōjū-ryu while in the Air Force. I enjoyed it thoroughly but I am 74 now with back and hip problems.Thanks

I fortunate to have been involved in numerous martial arts (Judo, Jujitsu, Karate-Do, Kenjutsu, Tanto-Jutsu) in my more than 60 years of training. Even though my experience has been primarily in the Japanese combat systems; nevertheless, I also studied other systems such as Taikwondo. I just purchased this interesting and informative 276 soft cover (Traditional Tae Kwon Do: Core Techniques, history, and philosophy by Doug Cook) book on Amazon for a bargain price.I have read hundreds of books on the martial arts over the years some good and some bad. This well written volume is one of the best books I have read on the Korean art of Tae Kwon Do in quite a while. The book covers the true history of Tae Kwon Do and is clearly well researched. This text is organized into three parts. Part one covers the history and culture of the Korean martial arts, and mentions the leaders in its early Tae Kwon Do development. Several of them had studied initially with Shotokan Karate founder Gichin Funakoshi. The second part of this book focuses on the philosophical aspects of Tai Kwon Do. The final part deals with the techniques of Tae Kwon Do.This book explains some of the forms (Poom-se) (Kata in Japanese) practiced in Tae Kwon Do but does not show any of them in this book; however, this book does cover numerous self-defense and sparring techniques taught in Tae Kwon Do. In this respect, I was not impressed with some of the techniques shown in this section; nevertheless, students of Tae Kwon Do can benefit from reading this book and learning these techniques. As with any book on the combat arts, the real value of this book is when it is combined with actual hands-on training with a Tae Kwon Do instructor.Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Shotokan Karate Self-Defense Techniques: Combat karate for the street).

I am so impressed by this book, it is so well written! I loved how it covered so much in just enough detail to make me feel like I was learning, but not too overwhelming for my 11-year-old son.

Fast delivery, product in perfect condition, book has interesting content and easy to read and understand. No mumbo jumbo

Doug Cook is a great writer I find his writings to be encouraging, instructive and a value to many martial arts practitioner. This is very insightful.

Great book, and well written. Doug gives a great history lesson, and stresses the importance of keeping traditions alive in training.

I felt that Mr. Cook presented a lot of great information regarding the importance of forms, meditation, history, and philosophy in relation to TKD here. I also enjoyed the various pictorial guides for techniques and drills, but kind of wish he went a little more in depth with the chapter on sparring.

Greatbook.Good condition.

Good book with lots of great information but I am disappointed by the drop in quality of the pictures. In an older version of the same book the photos have detail and shadow's, new book the pictures have all been whitened. Doesn't look as good or clear.

it was good for learning the history of taekwondo and a good read for any one taking up the activity.