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Go
Consisting of black and white pebbles and a grid-work playing board, the ancient Asian game of go appears much simpler than chess, but it continues to stump the most sophisticated supercomputers. Teach Yourself Go explains the rules of the game and, using step-by-step illustrations, helps you acquire a solid understanding of how go is played. You also learn about the origins of the game, its long history, and the body of legend, rituals, art, and literature that it has inspired.
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 5, 2015
I found this book very helpful.
A funny story: The book explains 'when you first attend a club, you may meet a dan (master) player. If you are offered a nine stone handicap game, it is polite to accept, even if you think nine stones is too many. You'll probably lose anyway.' I went along to the Cambridge club. Sure enough I met a dan, Charlie, and he offered me the nine stone handicap game. I politely accepted. Nine stones ahead I felt invincible—for the first minute. He won resoundingly. At the end I laughed "this is exactly what the book said would happen!". "Teach Yourself Go?" he asked. "Yes! Have you read it?". He smiled "I wrote it."
A funny story: The book explains 'when you first attend a club, you may meet a dan (master) player. If you are offered a nine stone handicap game, it is polite to accept, even if you think nine stones is too many. You'll probably lose anyway.' I went along to the Cambridge club. Sure enough I met a dan, Charlie, and he offered me the nine stone handicap game. I politely accepted. Nine stones ahead I felt invincible—for the first minute. He won resoundingly. At the end I laughed "this is exactly what the book said would happen!". "Teach Yourself Go?" he asked. "Yes! Have you read it?". He smiled "I wrote it."
February 16, 2021
2/16/21 Update: I haven't played a single game of Go since finishing this book.
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Original Review:
Comprehensive with lots of examples. Seemed to make some big leaps in terms of expecting the beginner/novice player to grasp certain concepts or logic to the game (things, I'm assuming, are so apparent to the writer and seasoned players as to almost be impossible to remember what it was like not to know or understand). I think the positioning and strategy would be better understood via animation or video with commentary. I suspect I'll return to some of the more complicated examples as I learn the game. One day...
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Original Review:
Comprehensive with lots of examples. Seemed to make some big leaps in terms of expecting the beginner/novice player to grasp certain concepts or logic to the game (things, I'm assuming, are so apparent to the writer and seasoned players as to almost be impossible to remember what it was like not to know or understand). I think the positioning and strategy would be better understood via animation or video with commentary. I suspect I'll return to some of the more complicated examples as I learn the game. One day...
January 27, 2011
This slim volume covers everything from the basic rules, through haengma, basic tactics (ladders, nets, snapbacks, ko-threats), living and dead patterns, to middlegame strategy and endgame play, providing problems and solutions along the way.
I really liked the sections on Go history, its appearance in philosophy and culture, AI (though dated by now - it doesn't mention the now standard Monte Carlo approaches that have improved AIs considerably) and file formats (okay, I've been curious about sgf files for a while).
The book is conceptually pretty comprehensive - understandably less so than Janice Kim's five books. It lacked material on invasions, reductions, and opening principles, but included less common material on ko-threat management, half eyes, and some "standard" openings.
The book spends time on some foundational items (such as attacks on 1-point and 2-point jumps) which is great; such knowledge is frequently assumed as known despite containing enough complexity to trip you up in a real game. It moves quickly between subjects, and I've heard the problems being described as pretty hard.
It's a good introductory book to have if you only have one (if allowed five, I'd prefer Janice Kim's series). More advanced topics will require specific books.
I really liked the sections on Go history, its appearance in philosophy and culture, AI (though dated by now - it doesn't mention the now standard Monte Carlo approaches that have improved AIs considerably) and file formats (okay, I've been curious about sgf files for a while).
The book is conceptually pretty comprehensive - understandably less so than Janice Kim's five books. It lacked material on invasions, reductions, and opening principles, but included less common material on ko-threat management, half eyes, and some "standard" openings.
The book spends time on some foundational items (such as attacks on 1-point and 2-point jumps) which is great; such knowledge is frequently assumed as known despite containing enough complexity to trip you up in a real game. It moves quickly between subjects, and I've heard the problems being described as pretty hard.
It's a good introductory book to have if you only have one (if allowed five, I'd prefer Janice Kim's series). More advanced topics will require specific books.
February 10, 2012
An excellent introduction to the rules, some basic strategies, and the history of Go. One could do worse than have this as a first Go book. Add the So You Want to Play Go series (I think only available in ebook) and you have a nice library to get started.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews