Read Books This will provide a list of the books I've read with a brief review. Users are blocked, contact me for access. I welcome discussions, but I'm tired of spam.

October 13, 2020

Hashi: The Bridges Puzzle by Alastair Chisholm

Filed under: Games and Puzzles — Tags: , — Randolph @ 3:54 pm

Hashi are puzzles where you need to form connections between all the bubbles on a page. Each bubble shows the total number of connections to that bubble and no two bubbles can share more than two connections. Then, all connections are simple orthogonal.

I found the puzzles a lot of fun. It is engaging enough to keep you occupied and the complexity seems right. Except for the simple introductory puzzles, they can be solved in less than about 20 minutes.

The one problem I felt, was they did not get more complex. The puzzles are rated delicious (fairly trivial), pernicious, malicious and vicious. But other than the delicious puzzles being trivial, the others did not get more difficult. They increased in size which provided more places to make an error, but they did not require more thought or problem solving.

They are fun. Now that I’ve solved the book, I don’t feel I need more of them, unless they can truly become more difficult.

August 4, 2013

Beyond Forcing Moves by Takagi Shoichi

Filed under: Games and Puzzles — Randolph @ 9:38 am

Beyond Forcing Moves by Takagi Shoichi

This is an instructional book on go.

Takagi discusses making the right choice of forcing moves. He discusses the principles in 12 pages, making up chapter 1. The next two chapters constitute the bulk of the book, and goes into making use of these principles. These chapters throw in other concepts in sections, all making heavy use of examples from professional play.

I didn’t see much value in the distinction between chapters 2 and 3, but the book is very good and presents ideas clearly. The book is targeted at more advanced players.

June 25, 2010

Opening Theory Made Easy: Twenty Strategic Principles to Improve Your Game by Otake Hideo

Filed under: Games and Puzzles — Randolph @ 4:00 pm

Opening Theory Made Easy: Twenty Strategic Principles to Improve Your Opening Game by Hideo ŌtakeThis book explains twenty principles of go fuseki. The book has plenty of detailed examples drawn from professional play. Each principle is demonstrated along with some consequences of missing the critical move.

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