Life In 19x19

The recent announcement that Slate and Shell is clearing out their current stock of print books (as future books will be distributed as e-books or print on demand) has left me in a quandary. I'd intended to pick up another book from Kiseido during their summer sale (Get Strong at Tesuji and/or Reducing Territorial Frameworks), but now I think I might want to pick up one or more Slate and Shell books while I still can (and some of the prices are excellent!)

I'm curious what input people might have on books that are especially well suited to print format. I generally like books in print anyway, but some books (e.g. problem books) make the transition to e-books with ease while others would not work so well, especially since my only device for SmartGo books is an iPhone. For instance, I have two of John Fairbairn's books on Go Seigen's ten game matches - Kamakura and 9 Dan Showdown - and their text heavy presentation of the games along with relevant historical and cultural insights is wonderful but not well suited to reading on a small screen. I'd recommend that anyone with even moderate interest pick up any books in that series he or she may be interested in during the current sale!

I'm particularly curious about volumes one and two of the Fujisawa Shuko tesuji dictionary. I've seen the PDF samples and SmartGo previews, but it's hard to get a feel for the flow of the book in print format from small non-contiguous samples. How useful are the books in practice, and how is the experience of reading them in print? Are there any other books I should be looking at?

Hi jeromie,

How useful are the books in practice, and how is the experience of reading them in print?

A very personal preference indeed.
I'm a dinosaur and prefer a nicely manufactured book any day.
From my observation, the experience and value depend less on the format than the person:

EdLee wrote:A very personal preference indeed.

Of course. The conversation wouldn't be as fun if the answer was cut and dry.

And yes, the utility of any go book depends more on my study habits than the book. Go books are a luxury, and it would be perfectly possible to progress without them. But they're a fun luxury, and I like talking to other enthusiasts about them.

Shuko's tesuji dictionary volumes are dense. Lots and lots of problems, which is a good thing. However, many (most?) of these problems are direct continuations of josekis, and I personally would have got a lot more value if they had shown the sequence that led to the problem being presented. I realize this would have made already thick books even thicker, but they weren't as enjoyable to me for this reason.

That being said, everything is marked down considerably, and I don't think you can go wrong picking them up. I also always advocate for Nakayama's Magic on the First Line - can't think of a better way of spending $2.50 on a Go book.