Book excerpt: This martial arts book digs deep into the standard Taekwondo patterns to extract proven fighting methods that unite ancient philosophy and strategy to teach effective, tactical self defence. The book follows the history of the Korean people, starting with the myths of its origins dating from 2333 BC, and its culture, focusing on the important historic influences of the surrounding nations. All of these have combined in the development and evolution of the Korean fighting art of Taekwondo. These ancient and deadly fighting techniques have survived over several millennia, ever since people first defended their lives and property from wild beasts and ravaging bands of criminals. The first part of the book shows simple techniques that have been refined using analysis gained by Koreans over the centuries. It is presented in a careful mix of physical exercises that are designed to develop spontaneous response from muscle memory in the event of an unavoidable attack. The second half introduces more advanced students of the martial arts to more complex fighting tactics and the profound philosophy taught to black belts, and is aimed at uniting body, mind, and spirit.