Underappreciated Go Books

[otenki]

I love this book: http://senseis.xmp.net/?WeiqiLifeAndDeath1000Problems but not a lot of people like/know it. Most of the problems look very easy but you really have to read a lot of variations to make sure the simple answer really works. In most cases it does not, which makes this book lots of fun

Otenki

[Dazz]

I love this book: http://senseis.xmp.net/?WeiqiLifeAndDeath1000Problems but not a lot of people like/know it. Most of the problems look very easy but you really have to read a lot of variations to make sure the simple answer really works. In most cases it does not, which makes this book lots of fun

Otenki

Thanks for sharing. I have seen that book recommended on L19 a number of times. Do you know where you can buy it? Also, what range of strength is the book suitable for?

[p2501]

I love this book: http://senseis.xmp.net/?WeiqiLifeAndDeath1000Problems but not a lot of people like/know it. Most of the problems look very easy but you really have to read a lot of variations to make sure the simple answer really works. In most cases it does not, which makes this book lots of fun

Otenki

Thanks for sharing. I have seen that book recommended on L19 a number of times. Do you know where you can buy it? Also, what range of strength is the book suitable for?

I would say at sdk it starts to get good. There are a lot of tough problems wich you should try to tackle but ultimately might have to skip. As you get stronger the easier problems are good repetition. I can't say what the upper limit is, but I guess it's a good 'staying in shape' book for dans.

edit: I got mine from YMI but they dont seem to have it anymore.

[otenki]

I love this book: http://senseis.xmp.net/?WeiqiLifeAndDeath1000Problems but not a lot of people like/know it. Most of the problems look very easy but you really have to read a lot of variations to make sure the simple answer really works. In most cases it does not, which makes this book lots of fun

Otenki

Thanks for sharing. I have seen that book recommended on L19 a number of times. Do you know where you can buy it? Also, what range of strength is the book suitable for?

I think you should skip this book until you are about 5kyu kgs at least. For me the beginning of the book is pretty doable but once I get past the initial part (first 200 or so) some of the problems get very hard. Howhever I cannot really tell too much about the later problems strength because I just do not have the reading to solve but some anwers are like 10+ moves deep. So my guess would be something like 1-2d is the upper limit.

I got my book from the US (which is quite a pain for someone living in europe) but the store has the book sold out at the moment.
You can wait until they have them back in stock or I can bring one from china for you can wait until I return (1 nov 2012).

Cheers,
Otenki

[mitsun]

Vital Points of Go (Takagawa) is very good, but probably way out of print. It looks deceptively simple, but has a lot of dan-level material.

[Dusk Eagle]

I don't see it recommended very often, but "The 1971 Honinbo Tournament" is a very good Go book both for the commentaries and for the story it crafts.

[aokun]

"Positional Judgment High Speed Game Analysis" by Cho Chikun is a favorite of mine.

[daal]

Ah, what the heck. Buy whatever you can get your hands on.

[Bonobo]

Ah, what the heck. Buy whatever you can get your hands on.

Heh, that’s what I’m doing. Found out that I can’t read Go books for too long … and for that: I also can’t read in one Go book for too long, seems I get sort of worn up. So at all times there are several Go books I read parallel, often with long pauses in between where I need to read other things. (BTW just got all books by Trevanian after I thoroughly enjoyed his “Shibumi”, bought them used and extremely cheap via http://www.booklooker.de)

Admin: Although not intrusive, it is still advertisement and not exactly go related. Just a friendly notice.

[otenki]

"Positional Judgment High Speed Game Analysis" by Cho Chikun is a favorite of mine.

I've just ordered this book yesterday because I think my positional judgement is totaly off.
Lots of times I think I'm way behind when I'm actualy well ahead which leads me to playing to risky for no reason. I hope this book will make me fix my judgement. Also I hope it will help me count the value of thickness and moyo better. Good to see that it is your favorite

Cheers,
Otenki

[RobertJasiek]

my positional judgement is totaly off.

In that case, you should read also the most detailed and accurate treatise on the subject, my book Positional Judgement 1 Territory.

hope it will help me count the value of thickness and moyo better.

Neither Cho's book nor my volume 1 discuss the influence value of thickness. Volume 1 explains the territorial value of moyos, but does not explain their influence value. (Needless to say, the related missing topics will be in volume 2.) So far, Joseki 2 Strategy and Joseki 3 Dictionary are available for at least a short discussion of values and degrees of influence, thickness, mobility difference, usefulness difference and influence stone difference.

Further topics to be considered for positional judgement include aji, options, available development directions and strategic choices, but I do not know of any books yet that would well relate those topics to systematic positional judgement.

[wineandgolover]

my positional judgement is totaly off.

In that case, you should read also the most detailed and accurate treatise on the subject, my book Positional Judgement 1 Territory.

Personally, I don't think this forum should be used for blatant self-promotion. Certainly not this thread, anyway.

Robert, sorry if you believe your books are not appreciated.

[RobertJasiek]

Books are underappreciated for mainly two reasons:

1) Other books exist for a long time, many people have had a chance to read them, so there are also a few (in case of particularly good old books, quite a few) praising them. While there is nothing wrong with that in itself, it has the side effect that newer books are relatively underappreciated simply because the number of their readers is still much smaller.

2) Hard to get books are underappreciated regardless of their quality. E.g., the very good problem book Kansufu is scarce in Western countries.

Just mentioning particular underappreciated books is little help for deciding well which books to read. Reviewing them or comparing them to other books with related contents is more helpful.

Therefore, let me point out that Kansufu belongs to the classics. The problems are 5k to 7d level, usually 3d to 5d. One can see Kansufu as an endgame book, because all problems are also about finding the best endgame sequence. However, it is not about values, but about reading, tesuji, tesuji techniques, life+death and tsumego. The collection is easier (eh, less difficult) than Hatsuyoron and Gengen Gokyo, but more difficult than other classics or mid 20th century problem books with sorting by tesuji type. If you want to get Kansufu, ensure to buy a reasonably complete edition. It will keep you busy for months.

[tchan001]

In this case, RJ answered the quote with relevant info. He just happens to be the author of the books he recommended in reply to what someone asked. He didn't post a link to the books but only relating them to relevant topics. And his books may in some people's opinion be considered "underappreciated". So I think it is allowable as it stands on this thread.

5. Advertising
Posting or private messaging advertisement is not allowed. However, if the advertisement is for your own product, it is Go-related, and it's not intrusive to the forums, then it is allowable to have it in your signature and brought up in threads only when appropriate (e.g: someone asks for places to buy Go bowls, and you have a site that sells Go bowls. In this case, it's allowable to post a link to your site).

If say, Cho Chikun came along and started to tell people to read his book on positional judgement as a reply to the same quote as did RJ, would people think of this as unacceptable and against forum rules?

[p2501]

Does anyone else knows anything about the 'Kansufu'-book Robert talks about? He unfortunately is not able to photograph it.

Could someone make pictures of the front and back? Or give me a number or exact title (in japanese / chinese), author and publisher?

Thanks in advance!

edit: Robert opened a seperate thread here: viewtopic.php?f=17&p=134809