I am interested to hear from those of you who have read a number of go books what ones you consider to be underappreciated. Specifically, one or two books that you think made you stronger, and that you are suprised don't get more attention on L19 or elsewhere.

"Kage's Secret Guide to Handicap Go."

Someone was asking me the other day why I play the way I do in handicap games, and I think this book gets the credit. But I never hear it mentioned. The basic idea that I got from it (I think I was 10k when I read it) was that black's handicap stones favor a fight.

"Kage's Secret Guide to Handicap Go" was definitely a gem

I would also say "Enclosure josekis: Attacking and defending the corner" gave me a lot more confidence. I don't know whether it is an under-appreciated book though or whether i just over appreciate it.

Note: It's Kage's Secret Chronicles Of Handicap Go.

http://senseis.xmp.net/?200EndgameProblems
http://senseis.xmp.net/?200TesujiProblems

Well composed problem books.

Beyond Forcing Moves, see viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5150

Essential Life & Death Vols. 1-4 - best life & death series on the English market

Masterpieces of Handicap Go Vols. 1 & 2 - best collection of commented handicap games on the English market at incredible price

Although now out-of-print, Appreciating Famous Games may now be under appreciated by newer players. It's still worth your effort to locate at reasonable price.

One underappreciated book I'd recommend beginner players is A Scientific Introduction to Go from Yutopian. It covers quite a nice range of material that can be quite useful without being overly theoretical.

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I wish I was able to get a copy of Kage's Secret Chronicles of Handicap Go. I love playing handicap games, although mostly as black.

@p2501: I have often wondered about those problem books. I rarely see them recommended on L19. Does anyone know what strength they are suitable for?

I have Essential Life & Death Vol. 1 and I found it to be excellent for teaching you many different ways to live and also to kill. The only thing I don't enjoy is having a separate printout with the answers. I will have to take a look at Masterpieces of Handicap Go.

Thanks for all the interesting recommendations.

I think they are good for SDKs. I read them when I was around 4-5k which was just right. I guess it might me a little harder for lower SDK, but the problems often have a neat insight when you find the solution. So its well worth it.

I wrote a rather rambling comment about Essential Life and Death on SL some time ago. http://senseis.xmp.net/?LevelUpEssentialLifeAndDeath. I've also got all 4 books now. Obviously they start in book 1 at a fairly easy level (I read through vol 1 in 1-2 hours I think and got pretty much everything right - when I was KGS 10kyu) and get harder. Yellow Mountain imports have previews of each volume so you can have a look for yourself http://www.ymimports.com/p-1414-essential-life-death-2-10-5-kyu.aspx#.UVGDkNcztjI. It's hard for me to say, but I agree (more than I disagree) with the rank suggestions YMI give (vol1 = 15-10kyu , vol2 = 10-5kyu so I can only assume vol3 = 5k-3Dan and 1Dan -5Dan might be okay - but that's not what p2501 found). I like them but I think they're not good books to puzzle over each question for long though unless you're going to make flash cards as it's too easy to see the next problem (which is often a hint or follow up question to the current problem, as you know). I think they're best for when you can do the problems fairly easily and are reviewing what you already know. Problem sets like 1001 life and Death problems are more flexible in terms of the level of the reader (since a stronger player will just do the problems quicker) but I think they're good books to buy and keep on your shelf until its the right time to do them.

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I am pretty sure we're talking about different books?

right, sorry. I'm a bit sleep deprived. Yeh you're talking about the 200 tesuji and endgame problem books (I like them too) and I was thinking about Essential Life and Death vol 1-4 (I'm re-reading volume 2 right now).

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I love this book: http://senseis.xmp.net/?WeiqiLifeAndDeath1000Problems but not a lot of people like/know it. Most of the problems look very easy but you really have to read a lot of variations to make sure the simple answer really works. In most cases it does not, which makes this book lots of fun

Otenki

Thanks for sharing. I have seen that book recommended on L19 a number of times. Do you know where you can buy it? Also, what range of strength is the book suitable for?

I would say at sdk it starts to get good. There are a lot of tough problems wich you should try to tackle but ultimately might have to skip. As you get stronger the easier problems are good repetition. I can't say what the upper limit is, but I guess it's a good 'staying in shape' book for dans.

edit: I got mine from YMI but they dont seem to have it anymore.

I think you should skip this book until you are about 5kyu kgs at least. For me the beginning of the book is pretty doable but once I get past the initial part (first 200 or so) some of the problems get very hard. Howhever I cannot really tell too much about the later problems strength because I just do not have the reading to solve but some anwers are like 10+ moves deep. So my guess would be something like 1-2d is the upper limit.

I got my book from the US (which is quite a pain for someone living in europe) but the store has the book sold out at the moment.
You can wait until they have them back in stock or I can bring one from china for you can wait until I return (1 nov 2012).

Cheers,
Otenki

Vital Points of Go (Takagawa) is very good, but probably way out of print. It looks deceptively simple, but has a lot of dan-level material.