How do you read Go books?

[mongus]

I am working through the Second Book of Go at the minute, but I am finding it incredibly hard going. Some of the diagrams show more than 20 moves in a single picture. I just get completely lost and have no idea what is going on. Is it generally mandatory to be reading with a Goban by your side to play through all the moves? Or have you trained your brain to interpret the moves clearly?

[EdLee]

Hi mongus,

Good questions. If you find yourself "completely lost,"
see if you can break down the situation to more manageable 'bite-sized' units.
In your example, if a diagram is 20 moves deep,
try to replay it on a real set ( or digitally ) with
fewer moves at a time ( say, 5 moves at a time ),
and see if you can follow.
If not, try to reduce each chunk even further ( say, 3 moves per chunk )
and see if that helps.

Eventually, if you break it down to 3 or fewer moves per chunk,
and the very first 3 moves still completely confuse you,
then maybe the moves are too difficult for now.

( One reason for the number of moves per diagram has to do with the production cost of physically printing the pages of the book,
and is not (necessarily) a reflection or requirement of your reading ability. )

[EdLee]

I enjoy using a real set; others have various preferences.

[CnP]

using a sgf editor (like Drago) is also a nice way to deal with long sequences and you can move backwards and forwards through the sequence easily (once you've created the sgf file). If you have an iPad and can get the book in smartgo format https://gobooks.com/books.html the work's already done for you as it has interactive diagrams.

However I'm not sure you'll get a lot of value from those long sequences - certainly no point in trying to memorise them so you could quite happily skim over it IMO. If you're 28k it might be better to do problems & play games (I'm assuming you've already read a first book on Go, such as Go: a Complete Introduction to the Game, Cho Chikun). When I started playing I forced myself to read through the Elementary Go series books - which was probably a huge waste of effort. When I came back to them later it was a lot easier to read (as if by magic!).

[mongus]

I have an sgf editor on my phone, it's just for some of these diagrams there is quite a lot of set up required. I guess it's a case of deciding which ones would be worth it.

I have read Go: a Complete Introduction to the Game. This is my second start at the Second book of Go. The first time I just didn't have a clue what the point of what it was saying was. This time round it is making a lot more sense and I have been able to apply some of what I have learned to my games. I'm sure I am still missing a lot.

I play as often as I can - mostly correspondence games due to other commitments taking over my life. I'm starting to get a bit bored of losing all the time. Hopefully I can get something from these books which will help me up my game a bit/lot!

[CnP]

Hi, feel free to ignore anything I said !

... however, the thing that helped me most around your level was playing more games and doing the problems in Graded Go Problems for Beginners Volume 1 & 2. I play a lot of correspondence games (on DGS) myself so I don't want to knock them but you can play quick real time games in just 10 minutes (blitz on KGS for example). GoQuest http://wars.fm/go9 is a really quick way to play 9x9 Go (apps available for your phone).

[tchan001]

Generally when I read a book which has more moves per page than I can process, I would use the computer sgf editor to help me out. Not only does it help me read the moves at my pace, but I could also try out sequences which I might be led to think about from the situation in the book.

Regarding reading my go book collection in general, with its depth, most can only be left unread.

[mongus]

Hi, feel free to ignore anything I said !

... however, the thing that helped me most around your level was playing more games and doing the problems in Graded Go Problems for Beginners Volume 1 & 2. I play a lot of correspondence games (on DGS) myself so I don't want to knock them but you can play quick real time games in just 10 minutes (blitz on KGS for example). GoQuest http://wars.fm/go9 is a really quick way to play 9x9 Go (apps available for your phone).

Ah, I hope I didn't sound like I was just dismissing what you said! I am trying to take it all on board - when Go is concerned there seems to be an awful lot to take on board!

Will look up Graded Go Problems for Beginners. I do have Tsumego Pro on my phone which I do. I still struggle with understanding the concepts behind a number of the problems - so I have been on the lookout for a book that can help. (It's how I approach life - when there's a problem, buy a book!)

[Bill Spight]

I am working through the Second Book of Go at the minute, but I am finding it incredibly hard going. Some of the diagrams show more than 20 moves in a single picture. I just get completely lost and have no idea what is going on.

That's OK. Things will get better.

Is it generally mandatory to be reading with a Goban by your side to play through all the moves?

Not a bad idea. As others have said, playing variations on a computer is good, too.

You can play to the end of the sequence and then back it up move by move. If any move in the sequence is unclear as you back it up, you can play out variations. This is a good way to study.

Or have you trained your brain to interpret the moves clearly?

That happens naturally over time. Your brain takes care of that.

[DrStraw]

I am working through the Second Book of Go at the minute, but I am finding it incredibly hard going. Some of the diagrams show more than 20 moves in a single picture. I just get completely lost and have no idea what is going on. Is it generally mandatory to be reading with a Goban by your side to play through all the moves? Or have you trained your brain to interpret the moves clearly?

Not if you have a houseful of cats as I do! Reading comes with practice. There is a lot to be said for learning to take it all in without a board, but it takes effort. The more you practice the better you will become. Just take it one small step at a time.

[jeromie]

I rarely use any sort of go board, real or virtual, while reading books. (Exception: When I read commentary on a professional game I will always play the game out on a real board.) Most of the time I can follow the moves in my head; if I can't, I usually put the book down and come back to it when my reading ability has improved.

[CnP]

Hi, feel free to ignore anything I said !

... however, the thing that helped me most around your level was playing more games and doing the problems in Graded Go Problems for Beginners Volume 1 & 2. I play a lot of correspondence games (on DGS) myself so I don't want to knock them but you can play quick real time games in just 10 minutes (blitz on KGS for example). GoQuest http://wars.fm/go9 is a really quick way to play 9x9 Go (apps available for your phone).

Ah, I hope I didn't sound like I was just dismissing what you said! I am trying to take it all on board - when Go is concerned there seems to be an awful lot to take on board!

Will look up Graded Go Problems for Beginners. I do have Tsumego Pro on my phone which I do. I still struggle with understanding the concepts behind a number of the problems - so I have been on the lookout for a book that can help. (It's how I approach life - when there's a problem, buy a book!)

No I didn't take it like that - I'm just a bit cautious about giving advice and I think you should approach it as you like (sorry for the late reply). & there's nothing wrong with the 2nd book of Go. Hope you have fun with your Go studies