Fav Go books.

Well its looking bit quiet in this group, but I'll kick things off.

I learnt from Teach yourself Go by Charles Matthews and still rate this book as a good introduction as well as giving good scope for development upto a single digit kyu.

Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go by Kageyama Toshiro is an all time great for many people but I didnt grab me too much. I plan to read it again in the very near future though.

Any other opinions please feel free to post.

Lessons - but I haven't read that much. I like verbose "idea books" more than problem collections. Stuff I really look forward to include The Direction of Play and Sakata's Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go which is out of print, though.

I have read much of the second book of go and it helped me get to 13k online. The chapter on handicap play was particularly helpful.

Right now Opening Theory Made Easy is my favorite. So much better than In the Beginning. Perfect for helping my game now. I am ~ 5k

Kamakura by John Fairbairn is awesome. It's all about one go match between Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru, with a lot of background information, biographies, anectodes, and in-depth analysis. Excellent read.

>5 gkmy: When was that Kamakura book published?

Yasunari Kawabata's Master of Go is another nice narrative of a match.

What's the difference between Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game and The Magic of Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game of Go?

http://www.gobooks.info/k50.html
Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game, by Cho Chikun. Kiseido K50; 1997.

"This is an updated edition of The Magic of Go. The text is almost exactly the same; the only updates that I've noticed are to bring their discussion of things like the current pro scene up to date. If you have the older edition, there's no need to buy this book."

http://www.gobooks.info/g41.html
The Magic of Go, by Cho Chikun. Ishi G41; 1988

There is "a revised edition of this book published by Kiseido under the title Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game."

"There are no significant differences between the two editions, so there's no need to go out of your way to get the later edition rather than this one."

Also see:
http://www.gobooks.info/bib-difficulty.html#first

I am reading Go! More Than a Game by Peter Shotwell. I am a beginning player so I certainly don't trust my understanding... but it looks like there is a real mistake on pg. 74, in his example of a seki. It seems to me that W2 has created two eyes. No matter what goes on with B3 etc., white can just kill off whatever black does up in the corner, because of that separate eye on the edge, the 4th line down.

Am I really that confused about the basic rules?

I will say, though, that I liked his esoteric ko example, the last diagram on pg. 75. I am a computer programmer so the exact rules for ko and whether a game really progresses or can it get stuck in an infinite loop - I have a feel for that, having written many infinite loops in my career!

I got some help in a http://www.lifein19x19.com forum. Shotwell's book is correct! I just had no idea that an eye could be ruined by this odd seki business. What a complex game!

RE: Message 10: kukulaj

My library has
Beginning go / by Peter Shotwell and Susan Long

and

View Item Details

Go basics : concepts and strategies for new players / Peter Shotwell.

but not Go! More Than a Game.

Perhaps I could check it at the bookstore sometime.

I have found typos in GO books before, but usually they are GO books that have been translated into English