Life In 19x19

xed_over wrote:yep, got 400 years. another great book.

and you're right, Invincible shouldn't necessarily be a first book. But the original question was about being an only book.

A beginner first book won't last as an only book. Invincible surely will

Dante31 wrote:What I am trying to stress is that Invincible is not a book beginners buy to get stronger, it is for Dan players.

Here I have to disagree. Some of the best ways to get stronger...
- play stronger players
- study (review/play though) professional games

Sure, a beginner's book may give you a leg up on understanding various concepts and skills and help a complete beginner to progress to regular beginner a little bit faster, but don't completely discount the value of reviewing pro games for any level player.

Dante31 wrote:The fact that a appropriate level book will help progress a little faster is an understatement. Just looking over pro games without any basic technical knowledge is like trying to study calculus before you can multiply and divide. Is it beneficial for a first grader to to look over a calculus books? Could be. Will he learn calculus without learning the basic mathematics? I doubt it.

Magicwand wrote:i dont want you to learn wrong ideas from kyu level players.(sorry if i offended many)
just memorizing professional games will help you improve and will open your eyes in opening part of the game.
...
hum....when i was ddk many people gave me advice "memorize 100 professional games"
i love to review professional games. i didnt mean to memorize but after good review it was automatically remaind in my brain.
back then i really didnt feel any improvement but now i look back and can see that memorizing professional game really did help me improve faster.

xed_over wrote:
The original question, more specifically, was about the only 1 book for a beginner. He mentioned that he is a beginner, so it is safe to assume he wants a book for a beginner. It is not a question of 1 book for the rest of ones life.

Helel wrote:Not so. A physical book has a magic of it's own.

Helel wrote:I am sure you could find pirate copies of almost everything including Invincible if you were to look for it. But it's not only about the information in the book. It is the book itself, touchable and real, with the information in it. This is why I recommend getting the hardcover version. But again, I am not claiming this is a reasonable choice, only that it is my choice.

xed_over wrote:
A beginner first book won't last as an only book.

Dante31 wrote:But still it is coupled with other study materials I am sure. I just don't see how it would be possible for a DDK to look over pro games and learn much without learning the basics.

xed_over wrote:

Dante31 wrote:But still it is coupled with other study materials I am sure. I just don't see how it would be possible for a DDK to look over pro games and learn much without learning the basics.

How can a baby learn to speak a language without learning the basics -- verbs, nouns, sentence structure?

They learn by imitating what they hear. Later, the classroom instruction of the basics will bring more clarity to what they've already learned to understand from practical usage.

Dante31 wrote:Actually babies don't learn it on their own, they are partially taught by a parent (and others). You will notice that people instinctively repeat words, say them slowly... to babies. For your theory to work, you would need a lot of pro players all around you that will show you things from time to time. That is by the way, how most kids or pro players learn the game.

Monadology wrote:

Dante31 wrote:Actually babies don't learn it on their own, they are partially taught by a parent (and others). You will notice that people instinctively repeat words, say them slowly... to babies. For your theory to work, you would need a lot of pro players all around you that will show you things from time to time. That is by the way, how most kids or pro players learn the game.

Linguistic development in infants is not definitively understood by the experts much less by any of us, so I'd be wary of extending this analogy too far (or using it in the first place).

kukula wrote:I have been studying Shotwell's Go! More Than a Game a bit.
[...]
He shows a seki example on pg 74. After W2, surely white has two good eyes and is immortal??? I don't see how black can threaten!