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Recommended First Books
Dronak: I'm a total newbie, just starting out with information from the web. I'm thinking about getting a book, but just one. As a new interest, I'm not ready to spend a lot of money, say for one of those 5-7 book series. But I might go for one nice, general book that covers a lot of major topics; something low enough level that I can understand most of it, but maybe also gives me some room to grow into it. Is there any consensus here on what book would be good for that purpose? I see reviews are available, but being totally new it's hard to decide what might be good for me so I thought maybe some of you here would have suggestions. If so, especially if a lot of people agree on one book, please let me know. Thanks a lot. JohnAspinall: I got a lot out of Bozulich's Second Book of Go when I was just past learning the rules. Well .. here are my thoughts on this. There are three types of books (at least on how I view things).
The General information books would consists of those books that cover the rules, terminology, some basic ideas. I would probably say that the books that you find in some of the off the shelf commercial Go sets would probably fit here. I would also probably say that some of the books from Janice Kim would be here. These types of books are good for a good overview. They will get you started, give you enough basics to play the game. Some will help you start understanding the game from a study standpoint (I'm thinking here of the books that Janice Kim co-authored.) However. Once you've digested some of the general information books, you will probably need to really start to study the game. Here the Theory type books and the tactical type books are going to come into play. The theory type books will cover more of a high level view of the game (or a specific aspect of the game). Examples within these books are usually for illustration (for example they may show one or two joseki for a response, but will might indicate that other joseki will also work). I would include in these types of books Opening Theory Made Easy, In the Beginning, Attack and Defense Making Good Shape as prime examples. (For me personally, these are the types of books that really help me learn.) Tactical books are those that deal mostly with local type of play. Usually one of the big characteristics of these types of books is that they will have a large number of problems, or very specific examples. Here are the books that cover Joseki, Tesuji, Life and Death problems. Many of these types of books just require sitting down, and memorizing the sequence and then understanding the sequence. For my list of books (probably in order)
That should probably keep one busy for a while. If I were to start afresh that is probably the order that I would read things (knowing how I learn things). dpx: If i could have just one beginning book it would either have to be Bozulich's The Second Book of Go or Iwamoto's Go for Beginners. I did not read Iwamoto's book when i was first starting out, but i wish i had, as it is clear and covers quite a lot in such a slim volume. Dronak: Thanks for some fast replies, I hope others will add some more, either with other books or just to agree with ones already suggested. The more people recommend a book, the more likely I'll be to get it or at least consider getting it over others. I had the impression that the The Second Book of Go would be a bit too advanced for me, but maybe not. I'll look into it and Go for Beginners. The LearnToPlayGoSeries by Janice Kim was one of the first things I looked at because she's writing a little column to accompany HikaruNoGo in the US Shonen Jump. Apparently the first book has a punch-out board and pieces which is cute since I have no physical equipment, just computer stuff. But it's a series and all five books together cost about $70. I know I don't have to get them all at once, but I have read that the first is so basic that you can skip it or at least get the first two books together. I'm not sure I want to go in on a series right now though, because if I start one, I'll want to finish it and I'm not really ready to spend that much money on a brand new interest. I might buy one book though when I get a bit more money saved up again (I just made some fun purchases). So I'll look into the suggestions already made, but please add more if you have them. Thanks again. :) RoyZR This page would not be complete without mention of LessonsInTheFundamentalsOfGo. It might be a little much for a person just learning the rules, but as someone currently in the 25-20 kyu range, I think it's superb. Most seem to find it remains valuable as they advance. Jesse: Also there is the Graded Go Problems for Beginners series. I worked on Volume 2 a while ago, and I remember liking the format. The problems cover many aspects of the game: life and death, connection, fuseki, ko, endgame. This is a copy of the living page "Recommended First Books" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |