This book is one of my favorite introductions to go. It's in German, which is a bit of a problem for some of us, but if you live in Germany, it's quite good. It has a history of go, some go fables, the rules, some "philosophy", some commented games, and some appendices. It also has tons of pictures, usually of Japanese or Chinese art involving go.
My favorite part is the fables; is has 22 of them. They're fun to read, and not nearly as brief as the ones given in Pecorini and Shu. The history is also a good deal longer than the histories in most books; it's more than 40 pages long. The introduction to the game is only so so, certainly not as good as that in the better books in English, but the history and fables are probably more likely to get you hooked on the game than a better introduction would.
It's currently available from Hebsacker Verlag.
Last modified: Mon May 23 20:19:47 PDT 2005