Thanks for all the advice! I have just acquired "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go" and I am really enjoying it! Amazing book.

For $200?

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Patience, grasshopper.

No, I got it for ~$20. I am going to buy the books over the course of a few weeks/months.

Since I'm a beginner, this thread has also been really helpful to me as well. I'm about to send an order and I wanted to ask your opinion on which of the "Graded Go Problems for Beginners" books I should order first.

Everyone seems to recommend Vol. 3 in this thread. Also, I've been solving the problems on the SmartGo soft up to 20k and found some of them tricky but not too difficult overall. So, I thought that Vol. 1 might be too easy, but what about Vol.2? Reading reviews on Amazon, many people have said that "although simple, there is still much to learn from these problems."

Or should I just screw all that crap and buy Vol. 3 first?

Thanks!

This list is pretty much bang on what you need. I call Tesuji, Attack and Defense, and Fundamentals (Kageyama) the "Holy Trinity". They're all written in a very understandable way and all contain a compendium of knowledge.

Those three books alone should get you to around mid-SDK. Once you do reach around 5k, Direction of Play would be really useful, as will Reducing Territorial Frameworks by Fujisawa Shuko. I haven't really read many books, but the ones I've mentioned in this post are all fantastic.

@ACGalaga
Volume 3 is very useful if you are trying to break sdk. If you are weaker than that I would recommend Volume 2. I think the reason why everyone likes Volume 3 is that the OP is around that level and that it is one of the few books that covers material in that strength range.

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While I was teaching the game to a friend of mine, my mother from the other room:
"Cutting? Killing? Poking out eyes? What the hell are you playing?"

Thanks for your help

I recommend volume 1 if you're a beginner, although most of the problems in the first half will be solveable for you, they are great for drilling you on recognising shapes, and also building some confidence for basic life and death.

For that amount of money you can get a nice balanced library.

Developing reading ability is probably the quickest way to improve, though a lot of people find it boring, so:

* Tesuji (Elementary Go Series)
* Life and Death (also EGS)

Those are classics. If you want more reading practice, I'd actually recommend getting a book on the endgame, though most people don't study that until much later. I don't recommend the EGS Endgame book, but Get Strong at the Endgame seems good.

The suggestions above were imho a little short on the opening. I made it to about 8k with absolutely abysmal reading ability; just knowing the basics of opening theory made up for it. So I'd recommend you get one on theory:

* In the Beginning (EGS - this is the one I read)
OR
* Opening Theory Made Easy (haven't read it but have heard it's very good)

and one of problems:

* Five Hundred and One Opening Problems (Mastering the Basics Series)

Those four will keep you busy for quite a while. When you want to expand your library a little more, you'll want to get some good books on midgame tactics/ strategy. My favourites there are:

* Making Good Shape (MBS)
* All About Ko (MBS)
* Get Strong at Invading
* Get Strong at Attacking

You could get those now, but be warned that they assume a fair amount of reading ability - don't be discouraged if you can't do the problems just yet.

That 8 or 9 books is probably about $200 if you count taxes and shipping.

Good luck!

Flowers for your wife... girlfriend.. boyfriend.. whatever (I don't judge)
In the long run - this will profit you more than Go books, i guarantee!

If you really want to get Go books, though, the ones I recommend are:

Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go
Attack and Defense - EGS as well
Strategic Concepts of Go
Invincible
Ishida

I am not sure about the prices... and about what you need. But these are universal books which will serve you well through your Go-playing years, regardless of the level.
if you have more money? Try these:

Kato's attack and kill
The direction of play (kajiwara)
and so on...

I would say - go for the classics, the old(er) books... on average - they are better than the new(er) crop...
Just my opinion...

Of course - your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/whatever will not necessarily appreciate the expenditure, even if they agree to it.

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- Bantari
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WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!

Ahh, the joys of being single.

I disagree.
First Kyu has a lot of motivational value for many people. This in itself can make people stronger, not to mention studying stronger.
I think that if you have 10 Go books on your shelf - First Kyu should be one of them.
Hmm... should the other 9 be Hikaru?... I leave it up to you.

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- Bantari
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WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!

Don't bother with girls/ boys/ whatever who want flowers.

"Hey baby, want to come to my place and... ... try out some joseki variations?" is an excellent pickup line. It weeds out the riffraff.

If you lock it down and marry her before you start playing go, you're in the clear!

Even at 11kyu Direction of Play can be rly good if he pair it with All About Thickness from Ishida.

The Workshop Lectures serie from Slate&Shell is nice too for his level i think.