Can anyone point me to a professional, or at least well-informed, review of this historical book?

There appears to be one here

Hushfield: Gee, I never would have thought of using Google if you hadn't shown me that it existed.

Now, if anyone knows of an actual review, rather than helping me find links to a publisher blurb and numerous sales sites...

Gee, rather snippy today aren't we. So you're asking for what exactly? 'Pointers' to something you'll be able to access that is invisible to Google? About a 'historical' book published in 2013 looking at contemporary China? Hmmm... Good luck!

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

ez4u: Not everything is freely available through the internet. I was hoping that someone would have seen a "real" review--like what is published by the New York Times, Kirkus,China Review International, etc.--and I could then find it at my local university library or perhaps obtain it through an inter-library loan.

Apparently, my initial request was too vague. In any case, I would still like to hear from anyone who has read a serious review.

Most people here read go books for the purpose of improving their game. I doubt you'll find many people here who read go books purely for the historical factor without the book implying that it will somehow help the reader improve their game.

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A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

The China Quarterly / Volume 217 / March 2014, pp 266-267
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305741014000046

I would just read the book if I were you. It might be less of a hassle to find the book in a library than it would be to find a review of it.

EDIT: From what I can gather from Google, this book does not seem to be about go, but about anthropology/sociology (and go is just a vehicle for discussing those topics). I would guess that if JF hasn't read it, no one here has.

lemmata: Thank you very much!


BTW, I really wasn't asking for someone to search out a review for me. Originally, I just assumed that someone would have already read a review. I take the point about this book not being something to improve one's play, which is why the question was submitted to General Go Chat. Surely, I am not unique in finding historical/cultural/fictional connections to a game interesting.

Oh, and Purdue carries The China Quarterly!

Ok, I'll admit that was not the nicest way to welcome a new member to the forums. My apologies.
Enjoy the book, and better yet: when you're done reading, tell us what you thought about it.

Hushfield: No problem, I have thick skin...to go with a thick head, methinks.

And mea culpa, I probably should have been clearer in my original post.

BTW, I teach at Purdue tomorrow. So after reading the review, I will decide whether to buy the book or just make a library request. (Being semi-retired, and not independently wealthy, I have to monitor my purchases, especially during the summer when I rarely get any classes. The latter does afford me time to )

I just got this out of the university library and read it - it's not terribly long, and it's mostly anthropological/sociological, but it is interesting and well written; if you're at all curious about how weiqi shapes culture (and vice versa) this would be worth your time.

I read the book sometime ago and liked it alot. It won't tell u anything new about Go itself, but for any Western Go player who is interested in Chinese society and the Chinese Go community it's well worth reading. The author is an expert with professorship and all but the book is not too academic. It's written with sympathy and a subtle humor.

I just remembered that I had neglected to say anything about this book! First, for an "academic" book it feels very light, not that this is a bad thing. Unlike many academic tomes, I would say that the prose is not turgid and flows rather nicely. (This is a very short book. If it had been a work of fiction, it probably would be categorized as a novella.) Second, as many here have observed, this is not a book to read for improving your Go game. Third, if you are neophyte to Go, like me, you may very well enjoy learning more of the history of Go, though that has undoubtedly been covered more thoroughly by Western Go historians such as John Fairbairn. Finally, concerning the author's description of Chinese culture, whereof I know not, thereof I may not speak.

One interesting aside, the author repeatedly quotes Chinese players who ascribe definite nationalistic style differences among Japanese, S. Korean, and Chinese players: paraphrasing, cautious (set openings), wild (avoiding set openings to attack immediately), and balanced, respectively. I am certainly not knowledgeable enough to contest or confirm such a general observation, though I find it interesting that the author believes that most Chinese players think it to be a true characterization.

Yay to summer time .

I'm not so sure! I just finished staining my deck and painting my lawn furniture yesterday. And today I strung lights out on the deck. I'm kinda looking forward to going back to teaching in about two weeks.

Of course, it has given me extra reading time, compared to grading homework, quizzes, and tests!

Seems popular.
My friends also recently painted their entire deck plus gazebo.

Now you can enjoy your Go-related books on your lawn,
sipping a nice beverage.

I have a bi-level, so the deck is about 4.5 feet above the lawn bugs. Yeah, nice breeze while looking out at the forest behind my house.

I also added a water fountain and wind chimes, which are nice for reading on the deck, and I am still working on making it a good Go study space. At least until winter kills that idea!

But sometimes you just gotta have some tunes. Music to paint by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTbvJ-bYPh8