Hello,

My father has always wanted to do the martial arts. He has finally chosen a school by him which teaches Hapkido. Although is not learning the system that I study/teach I am very supportive that he is atleast getting his foot in the MA door.

He's had his first class and he loves it. I am planning on getting him a little gift after he passes his first grade promotion. My thought process is that you really need to understand the history and the lineage of your chosen system to truely appreciate it. So I want to get him a book on Hapkido.

I was looking around and I see that the thick comprehensive book by Marc Tedeschi looks pretty good.

What are your thoughts on this book and do any of you recommend other books?

Raul, your father just got into MA, impressive, I'm sure you had some kind of influence. Look over all the books that Turtle Press puts out, they have a lot of DVD's too which are very helpful to study technique.

http://www.turtlepress.com/

I myself along with my brother have just begun taking hapkido. Our teacher recieve his black belt from the author of that book. To be honest I have searched for many books on hapkido and have found that one to be the most comprehensive. However, if i were you, I would order it on-line rather than paying full price for it at a book store.

As I said, if you really wanted to give your father a good book then look no further it really is the best out there, most other books on hapkido just display techniques, not much history on the subject. You should also look into the introduction book, it's sort of a synapse or quick review of the larger book. I believe it has a short history, it's not as extensive as the 1200 page book, it's only around 50 pages and cost $20 US.

The complete book is around $60-80. But you can get it for $40-50 on-line.

Another short little book by Tuttle Publishing is called
Hapkido: Korean Art of Self Defense by: Scott Shaw

It's a nice little book, easy reading, short historical overview, good ammount of techniques demonstrated. Cost $9.95 US.