Book critic Lesley Jackson is skeptical about the Taekwondo 'how to' guide, but Dave Oliver's book on ITF Taekwondo is a real must for any practitioner of the sport.
With regards to ITF Tae Kwon Do, there is really not a lot of literature around to supplement your interest. This book, by the president of the TAGB seems to be the best around and once you’ve gone past the blurb that claims to, “turn the human body into a killing machine,” - eek! – you are presented with a useful and interesting guide to this version of the Korean martial art.
The book starts off with a general outline of the “State of the Art” which includes both a brief history and an impartial overview of its present day political make-up. The only draw back of this section is that this discussion runs the risk of becoming out of date in a few years time, although a second edition would redress this. We are then given several more chapters that examine the stances, stretching, kicks, sparring and destruction elements of Tae Kwon Do in a way that serves as an intelligent guide in addition to your training rather than replacing it. With clear photos that do not detract from the text, Mr Oliver offers lots of practical tips, of which some of the sparring ones I found most useful: “keeping the opponent guessing” and techniques that are “stripped to the bone”.
Rather than the alarmist blurb written on the back (I presume they were not Mr Oliver’s words) we are presented with a realistic and measured approach to Tae Kwon Do that is non-judgemental and presents the martial art in an in-depth and interesting manner. It is both encouraging to the beginner, “there is no martial artist, no matter how accomplished, who has not had to start as an absolute beginner”, and modest, “Tae Kwon Do is a means, not an end;” but offers enough detail to be both useful and motivating to any student of Tae Kwon Do.
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Taekwondo by Dave Oliver
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