I have been enjoying this book so immensely that I am writing a cursory review. John Fairbairn also (sort-of) reviewed it here. For perspective, I am a weak one dan. The book is 12USD from Slate and Shell (link). Sensei's Library has a page with the table of contents (link).


What I like about this book:

> I have trouble muscling through go books. You can eat this book in discrete and interesting pieces.

> The book is about tricky moves, which are already fun to think about and try to out-game before you even read the professionals' first takes.

> The book imparted to me a respect for unexpected moves. Both professionals approach the various novel moves openmindedly, and while they will comment that moves look strange and unexpected, only give verdicts about the move (whether it's a new joseki, or a trick (and who might that trick work on)) after careful study.

> After reading a chapter, I could go out and use the move (in fact I very quickly adopted the high microchinese as my main opening). They very much work out of the box.

> Conventional moves and decisions get very practical introductions as sidenotes where relevant (You can find this being played 30 or 40 years ago, but now this is preferred because (comparison)).

> Everything is examined in a fuseki context (a primary real game is assessed, professional or high level amateur), with the factors enabling the move well-remarked.


Format:

> Examines 25 moves. Each move gets around 6 pages. The rarity and advent of the move is casually discussed. Pages generally take the form of three alternately arranged full-board diagrams alongside Alex and An's discussion (of the diagram). In some cases there are more smaller diagrams (especially when providing background information), and on most introduction pages there are only two (full) diagrams.

> The text of the book is a conversation between An Young-gil and Alexander Dinerchtein as they study the moves together. Generally Alex presents the situation to start out with, and An gives his first feeling and what would have been expected. Following is a survey and examination of possible variations, concluding in the best way(s) being decided on for both colours (with slight differences in opinion, given Alex has a propensity for cash and solid play) and whether it is new joseki or a trick.

Samples:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 8 X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 O B . . . . , . . . 9 X , O . . |
$$ | . . 4 5 1 . . . . . . . . 6 O 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

An: Playing this way, instead of at , is the only move in this case. I feel that White is slightly favorable in this result. The [B- ] exchange makes his position very thick.

Alex: But all White's stones are on the same side. I don't agree that Black is behind here.

An: Hmm, maybe you are right.

---

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm19
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , O . . . . , . . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . O X X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . 1 O O X . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . a 2 X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Alex: So Black has no choice but to cut inside with as in the game right?

An: Right.

Alex: Then it seems correct for Black to skip the atari at A with , as in the game.

An: Yes, it's important to do so.

_________________
Revisiting Go - Study Journal
My Programming Blog - About the evolution of my go bot.

Don't think that a review should also mention existing problems of a book? Hint: the spelling.

Glashouse...

Sure. Both are from Germany, where “glass house” is spelled “Glashaus”

Funny, this


<edit>

Now I see you’re from Austria, where “Glashaus” is also spelled “Glashaus”

</edit>

_________________
“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?

The pun with glashouse was intended.

The book's preamble does have several typos, and I am guessing missed a main pass of editing (as the body of the book lacks similar typos).

_________________
Revisiting Go - Study Journal
My Programming Blog - About the evolution of my go bot.

The book (not just the preamble) deserves a reasonable text editor's spell checking (a 30 minutes task) for at least a first filtering.

Unfortunately, I've seen some other go books that were edited worse than this one, so it didn't bother me too much.

I also highly recommend this book for the contents.

Is it available in e-book or SmartGo format?

The worst of all were some Chinese pocket books on low quality paper. Although I do not read Chinese, I noticed at least one typo (such as a stone of the wrong colour) per page... (But who cares when the import book price in Germany(!) was DM 1 or 2 or 3.)

As far as I know, just real book format

http://www.slateandshell.com/SSAD001.html