http://www.smartgo.com/blog/20121023.htm
That was from last year. I think his list of books has increased a bit since then too allowing for more choice from a prospective buyer.A Free iPad With Your Go Book Library
2012-10-23
SmartGo Books is now 48 books strong, and growing. Let’s say you’re building your Go book library as you improve, and see how the savings of SmartGo Books vs. paperback add up. Will it be enough to pay for that iPad you want?
Start with introductory books. SmartGo Books provides several choices, including Jonathan Hop’s So You Want to Play Go? and Kiseido’s Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game, but let’s assume you go with Janice Kim’s acclaimed Learn to Play Go series:
• Learn to Play Go vol. 1-5: $35 / $75 (first price is SmartGo Books, second price is the cheapest source for the paperback, in this case Amazon or the Go Game Guru value bundle)
Some books to guide you on your way as a double-digit kyu player:
• Graded Go Problems for Beginners vol. 1&2: $12 / $42 (Kiseido)
• How Not to Play Go: $4 / $10 (Slate & Shell)
• Single Digit Kyu Commentaries vol. 1&2: $11 / $26 (Slate & Shell)
• Fundamental Principles of Go: $10 / $24 (Slate & Shell)
• Basic Techniques of Go: $9 / $18 (Amazon)
The Elementary Go Series is a must-read. Three of the books are available in SmartGo Books:
• Tesuji: $10 / $18 (Kiseido)
• Life and Death: $10 / $18 (Kiseido)
• Attack and Defense: $10 / $18 (Kiseido)
You’ll want to challenge yourself with problem collections:
• Rescue and Capture: $3 / $11 (Yutopian)
• Get Strong at Life and Death: $9 / $21 (Kiseido)
• Get Strong at the Endgame: $10 / $21 (Kiseido)
• Five Hundred and One Opening Problems: $9 / $25 (Kiseido)
• Five Hundred and One Tesuji Problems: $10 / $25 (Kiseido)
More to study as you reach single-digit kyu:
• Patterns of the Sanrensei: $13 / $26 (Slate & Shell)
• More Go by example: $7 / $9 (Amazon)
• The Workshop Lectures vol. 1&2: $12 / $30 (Slate & Shell)
• The Go Consultants: $8 / $18 (Slate & Shell)
• Modern Master Games: The Dawn of Tournament Go: $12 / $35 (Kiseido)
• This is Go the Natural Way! $8 / $20 (Yellow Mountain Imports)
• Correct Joseki: $8 / $15 (Slate & Shell, published as All About Joseki)
• Vital Points and Skillful Finesse for Sabaki: $8 / $20 (Go Game Guru)
• The Way of Creating a Thick and Strong Game: $9 / $22 (Go Game Guru)
No self-respecting Go player would be missing Invincible:
• Invincible: The Games of Shusaku: $20 / $50
Valuable books as you approach dan level:
• Catching Scent of Victory: $10 / $22 (Go Game Guru)
• Breakthrough Attacking Power Yamashita-Style: $9 / $22 (Go Game Guru)
• Shuko: The Only Move vol. 1&2: $20 / $46 (Go Game Guru)
Our total so far: $296 for SmartGo Books. $687 for printed books.
Those savings are enough to pay for a beautiful new iPad mini: $329. And that still leaves room to buy five out-of-print books that we’ve brought back to life:
• Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go: $10
• Killer of Go: $10
• Punishing and Correcting Joseki Mistakes: $9
• How to Destroy and Preserve: $4
• Sabaki – How to Manage Weak Stones: $4
Of course, you’ll also want SmartGo Kifu, with 40,000 pro games, 2,000 problems, and joseki matching: $20.
Final tally: $687 for printed books. $682 for an iPad mini with all the books and software you need to become a strong player, plus a bonus of five out-of-print books that are hard to find at any price. You’ll learn more thanks to the interactive diagrams and problems, and you can carry your whole Go library with you.
You might be thinking that $180 is a fair bit over the Budget given in the opening. But if we instead were to scale it back to using $500 and deduct a now $299 ipad mini that would leave us with $201 to spend on content which is often less than half the price of what you would pay for paper books and with no delivery fees, which as we know aren't small. In addition to this the books are interactive and provide us with a better user experience aiding in our ability to learn in ways that feel much easier than from a traditional book. I will also add that the ipad mini can be used to play games and of course view games from recent and current matches which a book sadly wont allow. We can also view BadukTV later if our time and budget permits. Lastly we can even visit this forum
I love books, but i have to admit i have re-bought a few titles for the ipad just for the sheer convenience. It is something to think about.
