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Elementary Go Series #4
Life and Death
Book by Davies, James
157 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1975
14 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
James Davies
13 books3 followersJames Davies was born in 1945 in Philadelphia. He studied mathematics at Oberlin College and the University of Washington, but in 1970, the game of Go drew him to Japan, where he has lived since. An amateur (5-dan) player but a semi-professional writer, he has turned out numerous books and countless magazine articles on Go.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 5, 2020
I finally finished this book in its entirety, after picking it up and dropping it countless times over the years.
Most problem sets you can buy are aimed at a specific level of player, and have a gradual difficulty increase, but 'Life and Death' is more of a reference book, with large difficulty spikes peppered throughout. It makes it hard to just sit down and plow through, because unless you are a very strong players (I'm about 1kyu) then you will get stuck multiple times.
What allow me to finish the book this time was following some advice I've heard from multiple pros: Give a problem 10 minutes max. If you can't solve it in 10 minutes then make a note of it, move on and try again the next day. If you still can't solve it within 10 minutes the next day then look at the answer. You've already trained your reading, and perhaps there is a tesuji you just don't know about yet. Using this method I powered through some of the harder chapters that acted as brick walls to my previous attempts (Carpenter's Square can burn in hell).
The 'status' system is excellent. You're often not told the goal of a problem, and have to check the result for each player depending on who has sente, I've not seen any other book do this, which is a shame, because in real games you're not told if a situation is 'white to live' or 'black to kill' or if you're actually already alive and both sides should tenuki. The problems themselves are also well made and really do a great job of exploring the common life and death shapes that occur regularly in games.
However, with all that said, I can't recommend this book over others like Graded Go Problems for Beginners. I think people will get more enjoyment and improvement from collections with a smoother difficulty curve.
Most problem sets you can buy are aimed at a specific level of player, and have a gradual difficulty increase, but 'Life and Death' is more of a reference book, with large difficulty spikes peppered throughout. It makes it hard to just sit down and plow through, because unless you are a very strong players (I'm about 1kyu) then you will get stuck multiple times.
What allow me to finish the book this time was following some advice I've heard from multiple pros: Give a problem 10 minutes max. If you can't solve it in 10 minutes then make a note of it, move on and try again the next day. If you still can't solve it within 10 minutes the next day then look at the answer. You've already trained your reading, and perhaps there is a tesuji you just don't know about yet. Using this method I powered through some of the harder chapters that acted as brick walls to my previous attempts (Carpenter's Square can burn in hell).
The 'status' system is excellent. You're often not told the goal of a problem, and have to check the result for each player depending on who has sente, I've not seen any other book do this, which is a shame, because in real games you're not told if a situation is 'white to live' or 'black to kill' or if you're actually already alive and both sides should tenuki. The problems themselves are also well made and really do a great job of exploring the common life and death shapes that occur regularly in games.
However, with all that said, I can't recommend this book over others like Graded Go Problems for Beginners. I think people will get more enjoyment and improvement from collections with a smoother difficulty curve.
October 6, 2010
My main problem with this book is how it is subtitled. It is supposed to be a basic work. While the first few chapters (up to about 7) are basic, the problems from chapter 7 on can be quite challenging. In the vein of a math text, the problems also often extend the main idea of the chapter. I think that this is a good way of including content and asking the reader to figure things out for themselves. This can also be construed as being basic or elementary, but again I often find the problems difficult to work, particularly in my head as opposed to on a board or on the computer. Seeing as I am often left with the feeling that I need to get stronger before reading this book, there is an important sense in which it is not basic or elementary.
February 17, 2023
Although sometimes artificial, this book contains many interesting problems for go players that want to know the ins and outs of life and death – especially in the corners of the board. But this publication also has a major flaw that I want to highlight with this review.
While the first chapter shows that a group with an eye space of three adjacent and unoccupied points is alive or death depending on who plays there first (duh!) chapter 29 examines the carpenter’s square – one of if not the most difficult corner situation. And instead of a smooth increase in complexity from chapter 1 to 29 (and thereafter) this volume is a bumpy rollercoaster ride of widely varying difficulties (hold your barf bags, everyone).
Amateur players of any strength will find useful information in this book, but also a lot of chapters that are either child’s play or way over their heads.
While the first chapter shows that a group with an eye space of three adjacent and unoccupied points is alive or death depending on who plays there first (duh!) chapter 29 examines the carpenter’s square – one of if not the most difficult corner situation. And instead of a smooth increase in complexity from chapter 1 to 29 (and thereafter) this volume is a bumpy rollercoaster ride of widely varying difficulties (hold your barf bags, everyone).
Amateur players of any strength will find useful information in this book, but also a lot of chapters that are either child’s play or way over their heads.
February 25, 2025
One of the most helpful Go literature I've read! It really helps you understanding the crucial points of life and death, and is perfect as a look-up for certain shapes that frequently occur at the corner or edge of the board. I feel that my Tsumego solving skill has improved, regardless of my ability to "read" in the sense of being able to imagine several moves ahead. It's just that I know better what tesujis moves exist, so you get better ideas what to look out for, for living with or killing a group. Splendid!
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August 3, 2013Life and Death (Beginner and Elementary Go Books) by James Davies (1996)
June 28, 2012
I love this life and death book, it is a great foundation to become a strong player. I have gone through this book several times, it is a solid book with plenty of problems!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews