This book covered all the aspects of taekwondo as both a martial art and sport. The illustrations were great. The poomse section beautifully explained the WTF forms. My favorite part, though, was the footwork section. My prowess in the ring improved almost immediately after having read it. The authors scattered many helpful tips throughout the book, as well. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in Taekwondo. Well done!

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 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.

This is a very good work and should be used in classrooms around the world.

I have read many books on the Vietnam War and An's is truly one of the best. His views are truly remarkable and I hope to see more from him in the near future!