Book Review: How Not To PLay Go- Yan Zhou
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:24 am
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.
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.