This is a beginner's book. It seems quite good, on the hard end of the spectrum: somewhat like what Go for Beginners might be like if it were half again as long. (I haven't compared them directly, but I suspect that it contains at least as much material as the first two volumes of Learn to Play Go put together.) So lots and lots of material here (mostly on small-scale stuff (tesuji, life-and-death), of course but appropriate amounts on other aspects of the game), lots of problems at the end of the chapters. It ends with a section on "more about go" giving more cultural material, including a section of web links which has the good taste to mention my pages.
It is, honestly, a bit hard for my taste: I do wish it included a commented 9x9 game around the time that it introduced the rules, and the problems can get a bit tricky. So it's more appropriate for somebody who wants one book that will carry her quite a ways, and who doesn't mind not getting a fair amount on the first readings. It has the great advantage of being a good go book published by a mainstream publisher (it and The Game of Go are the only such books in the UK, and it joins Go for Beginners in that distinction in the US).
The author has a web page that gives information about his go writings, among other things.
Last modified: Thu Feb 5 08:31:32 PST 2004