Reccomend me a good Hapkido book

[transmota]

I've been looking for a good hapkido book to use as a reference as well as to supplement my Hapkido training.

So far I think I've narrowed it down to 2 books:

Hapkido: Traditions, Philosophy, Technique : Traditions, Philosophy, Technique

by Marc Tedeschi

OR

Hapkido Special Self-Protection Techniques

by Kwang-Sik Myung

I've heard some bad things about Tedeschi, like his book doesnt fully encompass the hapkido ideology, and that he has no real affiliation to any recognized hapkido group. But his book has like 1000 pages of techniques.

If anyone could me more about these two books that would be great. If anybody has a book they would like to recommend, that would be great as well

[tufrthanu]

I have Tedeschi's book. It's excellent. So what if he doesn't have affiliation to an org? That probably means he's more open to different techniques. My school belongs to the WHF and I think my instructor has Kwang Sik Myungs book. He said it was good but it looked a little outdated to me. Unless you are speaking of another of his books than the one I'm thinking of. As with any book I think it should be used as a supplement to training rather than as the source.

[danbong]

I also have Tedeschi's book. It is excellent. He may not belong to an organization but his instructor was studying directly with GM Han-Jae Ji when the GM was forming the sin moo hapkido organization. I'm not sure exactly you mean by "his book doesn't fully encompass the hapkido ideology". It delves into such topics as the water theory, ki, meditation and breathing techniques, different kihaps and acupoints/pressure point fighting. It also does a good job of comparison/contrast with other martial arts, such as not hapkido does not insist that techniques must be initiated from strong rooted stances, throws emphasize speed of entry/joint lock/acupoint "helpers" rather than pure grip and leverage, and a ground fighting emphasis on speed, unbalancing, and returning to you feet instead of obtaining a dominant position and finishing on the ground.

The book gives a very good unbiased job of describing how hapkido techniques were originally executed and how they have tended to evolve over the years and why they changed. Perhaps this might upset some purists, but this approach has given me a better understanding and appreciation of the techniques I learned in my hapkido school.

In summary, I feel that this is an excellent reference book for hapkido practioners who already have a fairly good grounding in the basics of the art.

[HapkidoDragon]

I have the Tedeschi book. It's very nice and informative. The techniques are very well photographed and explained step by step.

The book has a lot more in it than Hapkido techniques. Some are definitely from other styles. For example I've never seen any Hapkido school teach a Boston Crab move which Tedeschi shows in his book. The ground defense part is definitely BJJ in a Hapkido book.

[Tomcat]

I would have to dig through my closet, but I have two books I picked up in Korea. If you could get some books that were written for Korean practitioners BY Korean practitioners it might give a different perspetive on the art. Of course you would probably be limited to the technique pictures because of the language barrier, but I'm sure you could see what techniques are emphasized.