Book Review: How Not To PLay Go- Yan Zhou

[Andd]

I purchased my first books from Slate and Shell the other day. One of the books I received was How Not to Play Go. It was fairly cheap but still, the small size of this "book", made me feel as though I might have gotten ripped off. How pleasantly surprised I was when I began to read through the book and how thoroughly I enjoyed it.

The book is divided into four sections. The first is a short explanation of 5 or so misconceptions or bad habits that kyu level players fall into. These seem fairy vague and obvious at first but they are very well flushed out in the following sections. The next three sections are 3 game reviews of low, mid, and high ranked SDKs.
The reviews are very easy to follow with very demonstrative variations. The biggest virtues of this book that I can see are its brevity, and continuity of thought. It can (and I think should be) read in one sitting, with a board, or sgf editor open. The misconceptions mentioned in the first section provide the real bulk of theoretical material in the book, and are very easily digested while reading. I think I will benefit from multiple readings of this text and firmly recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read.

[SoDesuNe]

Here it costs 10€ (+shipping costs) and I can't help me but wonder, why I should pay this amount for less than 50 (40?) pages?

Of course I heard several times that the book is quite good, but... >10€ for less than 50 pages? ^^

[kirkmc]

Yes, the per-page price is high, but it's definitely worth it.

That reminds me; I've been playing badly, and I think I'll re-read it today.

[Andd]

Buy with other books to limit shipping costs if they're that prohibitive. Cost was worth it for me however.

[palapiku]

I bought the Spanish version - $6 instead of $10

[Tofu]

I bought this book at the US Go Congress this year and really like it. I've been through the whole thing and will probably go through it again a few more times. It's only been a few days, but it's already helped me identify one key mistake that I continuously make.

[null]

Hey I just got this book on smartgo books on my iPad after read the preview pages provided by smartgo books. It cost only 4usd and with the smartgo books' engine (helps u to lay out the stones on a virtual board)the experience is great. The only shortcoming is that the engine is not able to let me try out myown variations on the virtual board:(

[judicata]

Hey I just got this book on smartgo books on my iPad after read the preview pages provided by smartgo books. It cost only 4usd and with the smartgo books' engine (helps u to lay out the stones on a virtual board)the experience is great. The only shortcoming is that the engine is not able to let me try out myown variations on the virtual board:(

I think Anders has said this may come with a later update.

[Chew Terr]

Tofu: which mistake?

[jdl]

Hey I just got this book on smartgo books on my iPad after read the preview pages provided by smartgo books. It cost only 4usd and with the smartgo books' engine (helps u to lay out the stones on a virtual board)the experience is great. The only shortcoming is that the engine is not able to let me try out myown variations on the virtual board:(

I think Anders has said this may come with a later update.

Yeah.

I asked.
http://mobile.twitter.com/jdludlow/stat ... 4320372736

He answered.
http://mobile.twitter.com/smartgo/statu ... 6181909504