Useful books to become stronger

[oren]

I've heard Yilun Yang's "Fundamental Principles" is excellent, but haven't been able to get hold of it - it seems quite rare.

It's for sale at www.slateandshell.com

[Loons]

As someone who is very new to "reading books" to improve my go, I found Kageyama's Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go indispensable. I guess I'd never previously been given a 'fundamental run-down' of go, and he did precisely that. Especially because he would call people out on things at different stages of the book, and it was precisely what I had been doing (tracing ladders with your mouse/finger instead of reading, trying to make pro-looking-shapes for their own sake, trying to protect territory and not the continuity of your stones...)

I imagine people who had already received "fundamental" pointers elsewhere may find the book trivial.


So, are the given booklists striving to only give one book for each niche, as it were ?

[judicata]

I credit the Learn to Play Go series for my sustained interest in the game from when I first learned through about 20kyu (though they are helpful beyond that). They focus primarily on fundamental principles, particularly on the connection/relationship between your stones. They are also very, very accessible. I found that combining them with the Elementary Go Series worked out very well. Since I'm still DDK, that's more or less all I can comment on.

[Tengen]

I would add the Segoe tesuji dictionary into your advanced section. I recently resumed my quest to work through every problem and fell in love with the books all over again.

[GoCat]

If there's a book I've read that hasn't made me stronger, it's 501 Opening Problems.

Interesting. As I was reading this thread, I wondered about this book. I, for one, found it fairly useful. Could be because my openings suck. And, I can't say with any certainty that studying this book made me stronger. (My openings still suck.) But, it did give me lots of food for thought and helped me understand the opening.

[kirkmc]

If there's a book I've read that hasn't made me stronger, it's 501 Opening Problems.

Interesting. As I was reading this thread, I wondered about this book. I, for one, found it fairly useful. Could be because my openings suck. And, I can't say with any certainty that studying this book made me stronger. (My openings still suck.) But, it did give me lots of food for thought and helped me understand the opening.

The problem with that book is that it is too moyo-focused. I'd like to see a book like that which looks also at more territorial openings.

[Kirby]

If there's a book I've read that hasn't made me stronger, it's 501 Opening Problems.

Interesting. As I was reading this thread, I wondered about this book. I, for one, found it fairly useful. Could be because my openings suck. And, I can't say with any certainty that studying this book made me stronger. (My openings still suck.) But, it did give me lots of food for thought and helped me understand the opening.

The problem with that book is that it is too moyo-focused. I'd like to see a book like that which looks also at more territorial openings.

It's not all about problems, but Yilun Yang's "The Workshop Lectures, Volume 2" talks about some distinguishing features between playing a moyo game and a territorial game. It's an interesting discussion. I think that his goal in making the distinction is to help people to play more consistent moves. In a different Volume 4, I think, he also discusses the aspects of a fighting game (and how you can play in the opening to produce one).

[Tengen]

It's not all about problems, but Yilun Yang's "The Workshop Lectures, Volume 2" talks about some distinguishing features between playing a moyo game and a territorial game. It's an interesting discussion. I think that his goal in making the distinction is to help people to play more consistent moves. In a different Volume 4, I think, he also discusses the aspects of a fighting game (and how you can play in the opening to produce one).

I'd second Kirby's recommendation for the Workshop Lectures. I read volumes 1-5 a few months back, and the sections about territorial, moyo, and fighting openings were very interesting. My favorite was the fighting opening, which requires real skill to carry out properly!

[karaklis]

Since the question about books is asked regularly, I have put a list of books on my SL homepage. The list is intended for beginners to low SDKs.

It also deals with Kage's lessons.

Some go players do love the "Lessons" though. The only thing I could get out of it was to read out ladders carefully. It won me some games indeed, but I am not sure whether this is worth buying that book, because it doesn't give any concrete knowledge.

[SoDesuNe]

I expanded the list. Would be great if you could go over it once again and tell me what you think about the way I arranged it and if you approve with the blue coloured titles.

[Gresil]

A&D, 501TP and GGP vol. 4 are in the right bracket if you ask me.

[kirkmc]

Since the question about books is asked regularly, I have put a list of books on my SL homepage. The list is intended for beginners to low SDKs.

I think you're too optimistic. Many of the books you have listed for DDKs are way too strong. I'm 5K KGS and much of 501 Tesuji Problems is over my head. The Opening problems are also way to complex for DDKs, especially the level you listed. Get Strong at Tesuji has some problems that a 15K could solve, but not that many. Even 38 Basic Joseki is, to be honest, an SDK book, not one for 10-12 K.

Interestingly, your book selection mirrors my library, because when I started buying books, many of them were the only such books available. I've not read the Janice Kim books, but I would think they're better for beginners and DDKs than many of the problem books listed.

[dfan]

Since the question about books is asked regularly, I have put a list of books on my SL homepage. The list is intended for beginners to low SDKs.

I think you're too optimistic. Many of the books you have listed for DDKs are way too strong.

I agree; in my eyes most of the suggestions on that list are 5 to 10 ranks off, although I probably err on the side of suggesting easier books in general, because I think it's important to learn things that are just barely within reach now, rather than things that are way over your head.

[woohoo]

Wow, I just cannot believe this book was omitted:

Modern Joseki and Fuseki by Sakata Eio...

In my opinion it is a must read for anyone under 1 dan level.

[karaklis]

I'm 5K KGS and much of 501 Tesuji Problems is over my head.

I think, that strongly depends on how you deal with the books. If your goal is to improve your reading by trying to solve the problems, then I surely agree with you. As 8k I could solve less than half of the problems. If your goal is to learn the tesuji - and by that I mean that you know the branches of the solution so that you can solve the problem on sight - then this book is definitely useful for a 10-12k. A few months ago I watched a match between a 9k and a 10k (according to EGF, approximately 6k/8k KGS; both persons had been my opponent in that tournament), and this match was reviewed by a 1k (that was Oxident on GD, I hope he'll switch over to L19). He showed some excellent endgame moves that both players hadn't recognized. When I asked him what I should do to get aware of such moves, he advised me to study 501 TP. To hardwire these patterns is also an advice that Steve Fawthrop suggests. So if you cannot read out the problem completely on your own, but understand how the problems work in their detail so that you can hardwire them, the book would be appropriate for you. When I scanned the first 100 problems of 501 TP, there was only one problem that I couldn't grasp (a double ko was involved). That's why I deem this book appropriate for a 10-12k.