Questions about books on specific topics

[RobertJasiek]

Then postpone books about fighting:) You find reviews of some of the books at Sensei's Library or here by searching ("review" and the book title should help for a search). You might buy a PDF of one of the books and see how you like it; this would limit your amount of possibly wasted money.

[andreyl]

What level would you the book is for? I'm pretty good at fighting for my level. I'm still looking at the samples of the books. It's still tough to judge books on a few pages. Wish I could flip through and skim chapters to see if books have anything I haven't seen before. I hate wasting my money.

I would say the book is for sdk/low dans

Justin Teng(aga 6d) compiled a nice list of book reviews https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G2i ... HjBpY/edit

Generally as 2k-3k I think you should focus on tesuji/l&d problems.
When to crosscut/double hane is mostly based on reading and intuition

[longshanks]

Hi Temp!

I have Cross-cut workshop but have only really flicked through the first couple of chapters. I have it as a SmartGo book which is great as you can actually play through the diagrams on your tablet. The books seem to be much cheaper if you buy them this way and are more convenient and accessible.

I also have First Fundamentals (Robert Jasiek) which may be more what you're looking for. I've found many 'Fundamentals' books (and I have a few) allude to concepts and principles rather than actually defining them. For instance another book commonly recommended: 'Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go', is funny, easy to read 'a happy feel good book', motivational etc. but may not actually help all that much with defining things or making things less ambiguous for a beginner or someone wanting to get to SDK. First Fundamentals by Robert succeeds here and I especially like the problems at the end of each chapter just to drive things home. I found having the terms defined clearly actually made other books I owned more accessible. Be prepared to study though, since there's a lot of information densely packed into this little treasure. I've had to read it a few times!

I also have An Encyclopedia of Go Principles Mastering the Basics, Volume 9 which again if you have a tablet and Go Books is easy to access and cheap.

[Richard Hunter]

I don't know about double hanes, but I recall the "Cross-cut Workshop" book:
http://www.slateandshell.com/SSRH001

In general, books by Richard Hunter seem to focus on a particular fundamental topic. I enjoyed his book on capturing races.

I'm a little nervous about dropping $10 on a 40 page book. Is it that good?

Well, I'm not going to blow my own trumpet. You can read some reviews here http://senseis.xmp.net/?CrossCutWorkshop. But I will tell you some of the background. If you have an Apple iOS device, you can get a digital version with interactive diagrams and slightly enhanced content from https://gobooks.com/books-by-publisher.html (listed under Richard Hunter) for half the price. That lets you read a free sample chapter.

The book started as articles in the British Go Journal. I put an enormous amount of time and effort into writing those over several years. I got a lot of positive feedback and encouragement. And they were like well enough that the French Go Journal asked permission to translate and publish them. Later, Slate and Shell contacted me out of the blue and asked about turning them into a book because they had been impressed. That became my first published book and set me on the road to writing further books and developing a long and rewarding relationship with Slate and Shell, and Bill Cobb in particular. I have never met Bill in person; it's an Internet relationship based on trust and taking a plunge into the unknown. The initial request was just to reprint as is. I asked to check the galley proofs. In the end, I wrote a lot of additional material and revised the contents considerably. If you want a preview, the BGJ articles are available on the BGA website. I'm not going to give a direct link, but you can find it fairly easily with a little searching.

That's all for now. The go community is fairly small and many people know each other. Writing go books is a hobby, not a life-supporting money maker. The more people buy books etc and provide positive feedback, the more likely I am to write more in the future.

[Temp]

Hi Temp!

I have Cross-cut workshop but have only really flicked through the first couple of chapters. I have it as a SmartGo book which is great as you can actually play through the diagrams on your tablet. The books seem to be much cheaper if you buy them this way and are more convenient and accessible.

I also have First Fundamentals (Robert Jasiek) which may be more what you're looking for. I've found many 'Fundamentals' books (and I have a few) allude to concepts and principles rather than actually defining them. For instance another book commonly recommended: 'Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go', is funny, easy to read 'a happy feel good book', motivational etc. but may not actually help all that much with defining things or making things less ambiguous for a beginner or someone wanting to get to SDK. First Fundamentals by Robert succeeds here and I especially like the problems at the end of each chapter just to drive things home. I found having the terms defined clearly actually made other books I owned more accessible. Be prepared to study though, since there's a lot of information densely packed into this little treasure. I've had to read it a few times!

I also have An Encyclopedia of Go Principles Mastering the Basics, Volume 9 which again if you have a tablet and Go Books is easy to access and cheap.

How would you compare that Encyclopedia of Go Principles book to First Fundamentals? I have Strategic Concepts of Go which I think that book is based on so I don't want to get something that teaches the same stuff. Also what's your ranking?

Edit: I got the two titles confused. I meant Basics of Go Strategy is based on Strategic Concepts of Go. Not the encyclopedia one.

I don't know about double hanes, but I recall the "Cross-cut Workshop" book:
http://www.slateandshell.com/SSRH001

In general, books by Richard Hunter seem to focus on a particular fundamental topic. I enjoyed his book on capturing races.

I'm a little nervous about dropping $10 on a 40 page book. Is it that good?

Well, I'm not going to blow my own trumpet. You can read some reviews here http://senseis.xmp.net/?CrossCutWorkshop. But I will tell you some of the background. If you have an Apple iOS device, you can get a digital version with interactive diagrams and slightly enhanced content from https://gobooks.com/books-by-publisher.html (listed under Richard Hunter) for half the price. That lets you read a free sample chapter.

The book started as articles in the British Go Journal. I put an enormous amount of time and effort into writing those over several years. I got a lot of positive feedback and encouragement. And they were like well enough that the French Go Journal asked permission to translate and publish them. Later, Slate and Shell contacted me out of the blue and asked about turning them into a book because they had been impressed. That became my first published book and set me on the road to writing further books and developing a long and rewarding relationship with Slate and Shell, and Bill Cobb in particular. I have never met Bill in person; it's an Internet relationship based on trust and taking a plunge into the unknown. The initial request was just to reprint as is. I asked to check the galley proofs. In the end, I wrote a lot of additional material and revised the contents considerably. If you want a preview, the BGJ articles are available on the BGA website. I'm not going to give a direct link, but you can find it fairly easily with a little searching.

That's all for now. The go community is fairly small and many people know each other. Writing go books is a hobby, not a life-supporting money maker. The more people buy books etc and provide positive feedback, the more likely I am to write more in the future.

I don't have Apple IOS stuff so I can't use that site. Even if I did I don't do so well reading PDFs off the computer. I've tried in the past. I think staring at the computer screen for too long makes it difficult to focus. I'm not sure why I have trouble but I just prefer reading books. Still I'll keep your book in mind and probably get it eventually. I just have to budget my money and don't like to waste it.

[RobertJasiek]

How would you compare that Encyclopedia of Go Principles book to First Fundamentals? I have Strategic Concepts of Go which I think that book is based on

Encyclopedia of Go Principles is not an encyclopedia of go principles but a selection of ca. 100 statements, of which some are proverbs, shape advice, principles. If it were an encyclopedia of go principles, it would include, e.g., the greater number of principles in Joseki 2 - Strategy, which describes quite a few more strategic concepts than Strategic Concepts of Go.

The name of First Fundamentals is its program: its principles are basic. If your rank description is accurate, the book might be too easy for you.

Encyclopedia of Go Principles, First Fundamentals and Strategic Concepts of Go have very little in common.

The joseki chapter of Fundamental Principles of Go amounts to a partial selection of principles in a part of Joseki 1 - Fundamentals.

[longshanks]

How would you compare that Encyclopedia of Go Principles book to First Fundamentals?

Encyclopaedia of Go Principles attempts to tie Go proverbs of strategic or tactical value, to a set of generic principles. The problem with this of course is that a) this set is incomplete and b) the devil is in the contradiction. But it's an easy read.

First Fundamentals is more complete (principle-wise) and requires more effort just because it's more exhaustive and doesn't attempt to genericise principles.

I've found the former great for some bed time reading and the latter great for when I want to improve.

[daal]

Then postpone books about fighting:) You find reviews of some of the books at Sensei's Library or here by searching ("review" and the book title should help for a search).

There's also this post, which has a list of reviews by members here.

[Temp]

Then postpone books about fighting:) You find reviews of some of the books at Sensei's Library or here by searching ("review" and the book title should help for a search).

There's also this post, which has a list of reviews by members here.

Thanks this was helpful. So no one has reviewed the Joseki Vol. 3 Dictionary? I'm curious how it would compare to 21st Century Dictionary of Basic Joseki.

[RobertJasiek]

There is my self-review: http://senseis.xmp.net/?JosekiVolume3Dictionary
If you consider learning josekis, you might consider the alternative
http://senseis.xmp.net/?EasyLearningJoseki
Simply speaking, the latter is for learning the first 72 josekis, the former is for expanding a first joseki knowledge to 400 josekis.

EDIT:

Joseki 3 - Dictionary also explains strategic decisions and joseki evaluation while 21st Century Dictionary of Basic Joseki hardly does either. For the major, dictionary part of Joseki 3 - Dictionary, you can compare the samples for both book (series). Unfortunately, I am only aware of samples of the German edition of 21st Century Dictionary of Basic Joseki; I do not know if the publisher of the English edition has provided any sample.

http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/Joseki_3_Sample.pdf

http://www.brett-und-stein.de/download/ ... seiten.pdf
http://www.brett-und-stein.de/download/ ... seiten.pdf
http://www.brett-und-stein.de/download/ ... seiten.pdf