The book, Fundamental Principles of Go, written by Yilun Yang and published in 2004 by Slate and Shell ( ISBN: 1-9320012-1-2) surveys principles and heuristics that should be used to decide the direction of play. Each principle is visually emphasized being in bold type and surrounded by a box border, making the priciples easy to find and quickly review prior to a game. The 188 page book is divided into four chapters entitled: Key Points in the Opening, Relationships and Combinations, Effective Use of Joseki, and Invasion and Reduction. Each chapter is composed of several sections and a set of a dozen review problems. In each section, the fundamental principle is stated and then illustrated with numerous diagrams and accompanying text. Both the positive result of following the principle and the consequences of ignoring it are shown.
The publisher's note and sample
pages in PDF format are available from Slate and Shell.
As of 8 August 2004, neither Robert Jasiek nor David Carlton have reviewed this book.
Robert Jasiek: Judging from the sample pages, if they are representative, then I do not buy the book because I would get too little from it. It seems more worthwhile for 3-12 kyu. In about 6 or 12 months it is likely that the book will be available for sale at some German go tournament. Then I will have a second chance to judge whether I should buy the book. However, I do not buy it just to review it. Sorry.
bayesian: I like this book a lot. There is the kind of slow learning you get from studying 10 variations of joseki. This book is not like that - rather it consists of general principles that quickly open your eyes to the board. One example has to do with invading. There are books on how to invade (for example, Get Strong at Invading) but their weakness is that they don't have much to say on WHEN to invade. Yang not only gives invasion techniques, but tells when such techniques are unadvisable. In my opinion this is a must-have book.