Life In 19x19

I'm a budding Go book collector. Not as great as Tchan001 but I currently have ~250 books(haven't taken inventory in a while).

What are some books you would like to own? Alternatively or in addition, what books would you like to see written?

Personally, I loved Kamakura, 9 dan showdown and Final Summit. I would love to see the Seigen-Sakata series.

I would also like to see some more endgame books get published. Maybe an endgame dictionary or something like that(in English of course).

One series I definitely want to acquire is the Top 1% and a few of the out print English books like
The Power of the Star Point and The 3-3 Point Modern Opening Strategy.

How about you?

I'd love to see more strategy books in English for high dans. Not that I am one, but as a go book collector, it seems to be a section that has very little to offer at the moment.

I would love to see a modern day 'invincible' with the greatest modern professionals and their master pieces.

- many conceptual strategy books
- many conceptual middle game books
- many conceptual life+death solving books
- many conceptual reading + decision-making books
- go game psychology
- more, or more advanced, conceptual books for every specialised, currently under-represented aspect (such as ko)
- mathematical go theory books on many more aspects
- rules history
- etc.

Wasiqi wrote:I would also like to see some more endgame books get published. Maybe an endgame dictionary or something like that(in English of course).

What are you looking for in an endgame book?

Bill Spight wrote:What are you looking for in an endgame book?

To provide some background, some of the endgame books I own are:

200 Endgame Problems - Winning Tactics by Shirae Haruhiko
The Endgame by Ogawa Tomoko and James Davies
Get Strong at the Endgame, by Richard Bozulich
Endgame Dictionary by Kano Yoshinori
Yi Chang-ho Endgame Techniques
Go Special – Progress with 5X5 Go by Fukui Masaaki(Is this techinically an endgame book?)

Currently I feel like in English endgame books, we could use a more systematic approach in studying it.

I think "The Endgame" does a good job at explaining the basic theory(as do most of the books in that series) but doesn't provide a lot of chance to apply that theory.

"200 Endgame Problems" allows for more practice spotting various endgame tesuji but provides no context.

"Get Strong at Endgame" provides a good balance but I think it just sort of throws you into the deep end. If you aren't prepared to swim, it could be a bit rough on you.

I'd like to ideally see something where you start on small boards like 5x5 to gain practice in calculation. Then move on to common endgame tesuji and see how to apply it on 7x7 or 9x9 boards. Sort of a spiral method. Introduce new tesuji and then provide opportunities on to practice on larger and larger boards. Maybe at the end, you could attempt to see if you can get the same endgame sequences as a professional (or better). Something like "Professional Endgame vs. Amateur Endgame" series they ran in Go World.

I'm sort of an endgame and tesuji book junkie. I try to pick up books on those topics when I have the option to.

Also, I have to agree with other posters so far. I'd like to see some higher level strategy books published in English.

Finally, I forgot to mention, I'd also love to see a Honinbo Shuwa or Honinbo Jowa series in the same vein as the Honinbo Shuei series that Mr. Fairbairn authored recently. Excellent work Mr. Fairbairn.

Wasiqi wrote:One series I definitely want to acquire is the Top 1%

Can you read any of the Asian languages? I know it's a 3 volume series + answers in Korean. It got translated with more explanation (and more customer price )to 14 volumes in Japanese.

I would like to see more books about great players in history. Personally I don't need them for Japanese go because I read Japanese, but I think most Western players have woefully inadequate appreciation of the players of the Edo period. You can get all the games of most of the great players of the past on the GoGoD CD but the games are mostly uncommented. I'm thinking of something like the books in the Nihon Igo Taikei (Outline of Japanese Go) series. In that series the commentary is by great modern players, e.g. Go Seigen on the games of Dosaku, Fujisawa Hideyuki on the games of Jowa, Takagawa on the games of Shuei, etc.

Interestingly, I would like to read/own more endgame books too! The reason is I think I gained some stones in strength in the past few months I was studying it!

I have finished Chapter I, II, III of The Endgame and worked through 200 Endgame Problems (an excellent book IMHO). I haven't started with Get Strong At The Endgame yet, it seems very hard! I only did the calculation excercises at the beginning.

@ Wasiqi: Are These available in english?

Wasiqi wrote:Endgame Dictionary by Kano Yoshinori
Yi Chang-ho Endgame Techniques

And what is the fifth book you mentioned about?

I would like to read a book that is like chapter II of The Endgame, i.e. calculation of the value of endgame moves, not so much about tesuji.

Another good read would be a book that organises the articles in Sensei's Library about the endgame. They are often of high quality, but you have to find the articles!

Hanmanchu wrote:I would like to read a book that is like chapter II of The Endgame, i.e. calculation of the value of endgame moves, not so much about tesuji.

I have a couple of these in Japanese, but unfortunately they tend to put me to sleep quickly. They're out there, but I don't know about a market to buy translations.

oren, what in endgame books lets you sleep and what would you consider interesting?

RobertJasiek wrote:oren, what in endgame books lets you sleep and what would you consider interesting?

The English Endgame book put me to sleep pretty well.

Books on endgame calculations I have
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%A2%81%E3%81 ... 16&sr=1-15

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%8E%8B%E9%8A ... 382&sr=1-1

Both are very good books, but you have to put a lot of work into them. I got through a lot of O Meien's and just glanced at the beginning of Ishida Yoshio's. I'll probably get back to them after other books on my queue that are more practical/interesting.

I would like to see some strategy books that discuss practice methodology and style development with complementing skill sets. High level books that tie together several different lines of study, that also discuss search heuristics, how to manage time, and how to use traps. I would also like to see a book with statistical discussion on trends in go fuseki, shape and popular tesujis including both top ranked players preferences and overall league trends.

SmoothOper wrote:I would also like to see a book with statistical discussion on trends in go fuseki, shape and popular tesujis including both top ranked players preferences and overall league trends.

A book with statistical discussion on trends sounds like it would be more appropriate for magazines rather than for books as such a subject would probably make such a book obsolete long before the print run is totally sold.

@ Wasiqi: Are These available in english?

Wasiqi wrote:
Endgame Dictionary by Kano Yoshinori
Yi Chang-ho Endgame Techniques


And what is the fifth book you mentioned about?

No those books aren't available in English as far as I know. Get Strong at Endgame uses some of the Endgame Dictionary whole board problems.

The fifth book is a collection of 5x5 board problems. It is relatively easy to count as usually either player has no more than 8 or 9 points on the board. You have to read out what the best sequence is in order to ensure black wins.

If you are interested, you can see the some of the (all of?) same problems in Go World issues 82-85 which you can get from Kiseido Digital.

oren wrote:

Wasiqi wrote:One series I definitely want to acquire is the Top 1%

Can you read any of the Asian languages? I know it's a 3 volume series + answers in Korean. It got translated with more explanation (and more customer price )to 14 volumes in Japanese.

Read!?!? I just collect the books for the pretty pictures.

Either Korean or Japanese is fine. Just something I would like to have.

14 volumes sound like it would have massive shipping fees though. I'll have to do some nosing around and check prices.