Life and Death (Elementary Go (Kiseido)) [Paperback]

James Davies (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Kiseido Publishing Co; 2 edition (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4906574130
• ISBN-13: 978-4906574131
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #552,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Alive!!, February 8, 2002

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Life and Death (Elementary Go (Kiseido)) (Paperback)

One of the first mountains a beginning Go player has to climb is deciding when a group of pieces has a living shape and what do to get a group into shape. Until this is mastered one is playing 'accidental' Go. In other words, lacking a tactical target, issues of life and death are settled without a clear picture of the desired effect. Which is why early play at the Go board often feels like someone just pulled the rug out from under you.

No surprise then that there are many books on tactical play and analysis. James Davies' "Life and Death" is a very neat volume that organizes itself around shape and provides the basic proverbs that will help a player get a good start. Only experience will completely demystify life and death, but this book provides the kind of lessons that help a players bootstrap themselves up to a respectable game.

Each chapter is short and to the point, with several examples and a number of carefully thought out problems and status analyses. Since the focus of the book is not to test the player's IQ but to provide information in digestible pieces the material is easily accessible, which is not always the case with Go books. Lots of additional review problems are also provided.

The advantage to this entire series is not only the transparency of the lessons, but the author's careful adherence to a size and format that makes this a truly portable book. Go, especially in it's most minimalist form (a small magnetic set, for example) is every bit as backpack friendly as checkers and is much more fascinating. "Life and Death" is an excellent companion for the serendipitous traveler.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good systematic colection of life and death, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Life and Death (Elementary Go (Kiseido)) (Paperback)

This book contains Go life and death analysis from easier to more complex shapes. Of each shape the basic vital points are explained for both players. Special cases of each shape are presented as problems. Much of the problems are in form of 'what is status?', but also 'white to kill', 'black to live', 'white to make ko' kind of problems appear. Reading this book takes quite a time, but as result gives some stones in Go strength. I strongly recomend to have in addition some lighter (like: In the Begining) Go reading to relax with if cracking problems taxes too much.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars notes from a beginner, January 12, 2005

By 

Wyote (Seoul) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Life and Death (Elementary Go (Kiseido)) (Paperback)

If you are a Go beginner, I recommend studying (as I did) the book of Go problems for 30-25 Kyu before this one.

But after that and Richard Bozulich's book, this is certainly the next book to turn to.

I'm currently studying this book, "Life and Death," and another book in this series by the same author, "Tesuji."

"Life and Death" is a step easier than "Tesuji," although counter-intuitively they are volumes 4 and 3 in the series. Although the techniques used to kill or save groups come from "Tesuji," the positions in "Life and Death" are simpler, more basic and far, far more common. The problems are a bit easier. So I recommend studying this one first.