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 Post subject: Kamakura back in print
Post #1 Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:16 pm 
Oza

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BLURB

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The ten-game match between the Chinese-born Go Seigen and his Japanese rival (and friend) Kitani Minoru is perhaps the most famous match in all of go history. Apart from being a clash to determine who was the world's best player, it took place during the early days of World War II following a long period of tension and fighting between China and Japan. The match had great political significance.

This book describes the match in full detail. The scene is set, the players' biographies prior to the match are given in depth, and every game is fully commented, based entirely on a wealth of professional opinions (quite often conflicting!), including the players' own, of course. One game alone is based on over 50 pro commentaries.

The book was originally published in 2009 and proved extremely popular. With changes in the book market, however, the original publishers, Slate & Shell in the USA, decided to withdraw from the paper-publishing scene, and the original version went out of print, despite a re-print. Following very many requests, the author has at last decided to issue the present on-demand version in a slightly different format, with a few updates (e.g. Go's death).

The new Go Wisdom  format follows his other recent books in being designed to tap into the latest theories on the best ways to study, in particular the concept of 'effortful practice.' This means the variation diagrams of the original version have been largely replaced by text that requires the reader to play through the variations on a board, absorbing the flow into one's intuition, and learning to visualise. This is supplemented by a large Go Wisdom appendix, which can be likened to a  go concepts reference library. The idea is that concepts the reader wonders about, even those not mentioned directly in  the games, can be consulted and read about in depth. Moreover, all occurrences of each commented concept are fully indexed and marry up with the indexed occurrences in all other Go Wisdom books, so that the reader can study difficult concepts such as thickness and momentum, or probes and psychology, over a wide range of players and styles with a host of specific examples in the games themselves.

Apart from the changes required for Go Wisdom (which include also the use of colour), the text is virtually the same as in the original version. But changes have also been made in the diagrams and some illustrations, and of course the large Go Wisdom appendix itself (over 30 pages) has been added.


The following link works for me in the UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kamakura-ten-g ... 196&sr=8-5

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 Post subject: Re: Kamakura back in print
Post #2 Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:17 pm 
Oza

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Second sample:

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 Post subject: Re: Kamakura back in print
Post #3 Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:18 pm 
Oza

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Sample of Go Wisdom:

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 Post subject: Re: Kamakura back in print
Post #4 Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:32 pm 
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Wow! Thank you. :clap:

I guess you are guaranteed at least 50 sales given the number of requests for this reprint?

If anyone is looking for "Kamakura Book" on Amazon US they can find books about Temples, Haiku, a coloring book, and even an "adult" book.

Searching for Kamakura Fairbairn gets you the right one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SDCQ98N

These Amazon books are all print-on-demand so it'll take a week to get mine.

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 Post subject: Re: Kamakura back in print
Post #5 Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2022 7:15 pm 
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Got my Kamakura book today. It was printed on the 18th. I can't believe it but the book actually didn't come in bad shape. I think the book size helped since the bubble-mailer was a good fit.

I don't have much to say about Kamakura at the moment but the size and format is very similar to all of the recent Fairbairn books. So it's a big book. As shown in the sample images that John posted, the diagrams are given 2 in a row, sometimes 4 to a page. The diagrams are colored (whereas Teenage Meijin and Stone Chamber are black and white). I think I prefer the black and white for reading the numbers but the colored images do look nicer. Also, as he posted, it includes the same (or very similar) Go Wisdom index as Archers of Yue but with examples from this book.

I still need to dive into a Go Wisdom appendix. But at the moment I'm still reviewing games in Archers of Yue. Well, actually I went back to reviewing the Handicap Openings in Hoen Shinpo. Thanks to Fairbairn for all of the translations. It's wonderful to be getting more Go history books.

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 Post subject: Re: Kamakura back in print
Post #6 Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2022 1:32 am 
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This is really a Valentine's Day gift for all Go lovers! :-D
Just ordered my copy from the local Amazon.

Galation

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When you play Weiqi you are joining millions of people across four thousand years of time.
Jonathan Hop - So You Want to Play Go?

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 Post subject: Re: Kamakura back in print
Post #7 Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:22 am 
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Yesterday I had a bit of free time on a nice day and Kamakura was my choice. I was going through Game 1 and that was what finally peaked piqued my 5 year old son's interest in Go. We playing a bit of the 4x4 Go Puzzle (the Japanese one with apples on the apple tree) but he was already asking to play 13x13 Go today.

To say more about the book itself, and maybe it goes without saying, but the description of the game atmosphere given in the book really helps to set the mood. And the history is always interesting. I'm very happy to have this new print of the book available.

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 Post subject: Re: Kamakura back in print
Post #8 Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:46 am 
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John Fairbairn wrote:
BLURB

Quote:
The ten-game match between the Chinese-born Go Seigen and his Japanese rival (and friend) Kitani Minoru is perhaps the most famous match in all of go history. Apart from being a clash to determine who was the world's best player, it took place during the early days of World War II following a long period of tension and fighting between China and Japan. The match had great political significance.

This book describes the match in full detail. The scene is set, the players' biographies prior to the match are given in depth, and every game is fully commented, based entirely on a wealth of professional opinions (quite often conflicting!), including the players' own, of course. One game alone is based on over 50 pro commentaries.

The book was originally published in 2009 and proved extremely popular. With changes in the book market, however, the original publishers, Slate & Shell in the USA, decided to withdraw from the paper-publishing scene, and the original version went out of print, despite a re-print. Following very many requests, the author has at last decided to issue the present on-demand version in a slightly different format, with a few updates (e.g. Go's death).


The new Go Wisdom format follows his other recent books in being designed to tap into the latest theories on the best ways to study, in particular the concept of 'effortful practice.' This means the variation diagrams of the original version have been largely replaced by text that requires the reader to play through the variations on a board, absorbing the flow into one's intuition, and learning to visualise. This is supplemented by a large Go Wisdom appendix, which can be likened to a  go concepts reference library. The idea is that concepts the reader wonders about, even those not mentioned directly in  the games, can be consulted and read about in depth. Moreover, all occurrences of each commented concept are fully indexed and marry up with the indexed occurrences in all other Go Wisdom books, so that the reader can study difficult concepts such as thickness and momentum, or probes and psychology, over a wide range of players and styles with a host of specific examples in the games themselves.

Apart from the changes required for Go Wisdom (which include also the use of colour), the text is virtually the same as in the original version. But changes have also been made in the diagrams and some illustrations, and of course the large Go Wisdom appendix itself (over 30 pages) has been added.


John, how can one receive an autographed copy of one of your Go books in the US? I snagged a copy on the US Amazon site. I have no idea if I just purchased the new one or the original. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09SDCQ98N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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 Post subject: Re: Kamakura back in print
Post #9 Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:22 am 
Oza

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John, how can one receive an autographed copy of one of your Go books in the US? I snagged the one copy presently available new on the US Amazon site. I have no idea if I just purchased the new one or the original.


There was a time when I was regularly travelling round the Sates, clocking up MLB ballparks. I got about halfway before I had important commitments at home, and of course Covid didn't help. I don't think I will resume travel there - though I did go to the Cubs-Cardinal game in the London Olympic Stadium last week. But if you were to travel to London, I can easily meet up with you there.

The "one copy available" label is just a way of saying that new copies are printed up only on-demand as opposed to being kept in stock, so anyone can get a copy. Somewhat to my surprise, because I make next to no effort to publicise my books, Kamakura continues to shine. It is still somewhat ahead of the popular Shuei books and Genjo-Chitoku. In contrast, the Chinese books struggle immensely. I'm not entirely sure what that tells us. The lack of interest in China baffles me, but I suppose the very same factors that made me want to write Kamakura are shared by many other people, though I'm not sure I could list those factors convincingly. Simply "Go Seigen" is probably the main factor, but perhaps the more subtle explanation is embedded in the action of superhero Keith Arnold, who funded the second reprint of Kamakura through Slate & Shell on the grounds that "this is a book that should never go out of print." As soon as I heard that, I knew at least one other person understood my motivation. So, if you can get to Keith easily (US Congress next week?), I would be most honoured if he autographed the book on my behalf. I honestly believe that would make it more special than if I signed it. Add Bill Cobb to the list and I would be over the moon.

Incidentally, I have a new book on Chinese go just out, and another on Go in old Okinawa should appear within the next fortnight. Details of those will be in separate threads.


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 Post subject: Game in "The Go Master" Nosebleed scene.
Post #10 Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2023 6:16 pm 
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Have received my copy, and I'm enjoying it very much! Since the first game was titled "The one with the nosebleed" I remembered the scene from "The Go Master", and found the clip on youtube that shows the board.

And indeed the position on the board is :bow: correct! https://youtu.be/QybTzI-8YTM?t=266

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