It still remains unclear whether the book is as good as one wishes due to the title and should be translated immediately, or whether its title is euphemistic.

Just as in Japan, they may wonder whether First Fundamentals is worth translating.

Hi Robert.
Sorry - I was distracted with non-go stuff for the past few days, thus the late response.



This forum is not a war, unless you choose to see it as such. For me - I express my opinion when I have them, and if others convince me my opinion is wrong, so be it. No hard feelings, I am actually glad. I am actually a little sorry you see it differently.

I am not strategizing before opening my mouth to see how likely I am to 'win' a particular case. I leave that for lawyers.



Problem is - a lot of the things we/you argue about is subjective - and there is very little, if any, 'objective' reasons. Take, for example, the recent discussion about 'brilliancy' of Go books. You have your criteria, but they are not really any better 'objectively' than, for example, 'it makes a good bathroom reader.' This is what I mean when I say you are having a hard time seeing things from other perspectives. You assume there actually an objective definition of 'brilliant' and what's more - its YOUR definition, the one you chose to use. The only way people can argue with you is to do so on YOUR ground, or you seem incapable of understanding.

In other words - you try to force people into your way of thinking while at the same time making no apparent effort to try to understand how they see things.

This is why arguing with you can be so frustrating - to the point that I call it 'pointless'.

But understand - and all others please understand it as well - this is only my personal opinion, derived from the fact that we (you and I) often see things from such an extremely different angle. Others might well find discussions with you very fulfilling and satisfying. I don't - because every time I try I feel like you try to bully me into accepting your criteria while making no effort to even understanding mine. Its like you have a blind spot, and no matter how many time people point it out to you, you refuse to acknowledge the possibility.

I am not really sure what else to say to you.
I respect the work you do, but personally, I see no point in much discussions.

My opinion only.

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- Bantari
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WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!

JRTR, I do not see this forum as a war.



Everybody considering his opinion on go books to comply with "it makes a good bathroom reader" should say so. I don't use such a criterion.



As long as alternative definitions do not become more impressive than "it makes a good bathroom reader", I prefer my definition as a candidate for an objective definition of 'brilliant'. Not the final conclusion - a candidate.



I try to encourage (not: force) people to apply my thinking OR to provide better arguments and reasons.



Wrong. - I do not appreciate weak or missing alternatives as well as good alternatives.



Provide better arguments than "bathroom" and you make more points.



Bathroom? My attempt in understanding this as the one and only brilliancy criterion: "Go books should be light to understand short bits within seconds. They are not worth reading more than during a few minutes per day."



I am glad indeed that you will not succeed in convincing me that go books should have bathroom quality.



Bathroom quality I refuse because 1) go books can offer much more than reading for only a few minutes per day, 2) go books must also encourage effort because playing go better requires effort, 3) there is much more go theory (necessary for improving) than can be consumed in a light "bathroom" style.



Suggest possibly better alternative criteria and provide reasons for them!

Uhm <cough> forgive me for going slightly astray with this less than brillant comment … but actually the recently purchased “First Fundamentals” is one of perhaps half a dozen Go books (together with about a dozen others) in my bathroom (and please don’t chide me for this, Robert ) since that’s the only place where I have time for reading a few pages every day

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“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

For defining quality of go book contents, it is immaterial where you choose to read.

LOL -- of course it doesn't matter where. Idioms aren't meant to be taken literally.

In case you're not already aware, "It makes a good bathroom reader", is an idiom that means its either a favorite or high quality book because one leaves it in their most frequented reading place -- the bathroom.

I like to avoid the kitchen when I'm reading tsumego books. It just seems best to read in locations where sharp objects aren't around to vent my frustration when I get a problem wrong.

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be immersed

JRTR: http://www.acronymfinder.com/Japan-Railway-and-Transport-Review-%28JRTR%29.html

OR Jasiek's rather terse rhetorics

It was probably nothing more than a simple typo for JFTR, "just for the record".

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And the go-fever which is more real than many doctors’ diseases, waked and raged...
- Rudyard Kipling, "The Light That Failed" (1891)

Correct.

Had to register an account just to say that this thread is very entertaining :p

Bantari, isn't it nice when your point is made for you?