Games Books

This is one of the best golf books I have read. It was very easy to understand about the golf swing. The book taught me how to solve my problems, and gave me some very good drills that helped me to feel the correct swing. I highly recommended this book to all level of golfers.

Terry has compiled a tremendous amount of detailed information about the golf game in an easy to read and understandable context. Beginners will really appreciate the simple language as well as comprehensive drills that will make a fast impact to improvement. The skilled or avid golfer will find "Take Control of Your Game" refreshing and brings about an element of enjoyment back to the game of golf and allows one to look beyond the complicated and crazy industry of equipment and game improvement gimmicks. Terry has created this book to relieve the common fustrations and anxieties of game improvement. You can skip the next "Papa Smurf" Titanium Driver, and the Nuclear Driven Irons, because help is on the way with this simple paperback. Buy the book now before your wife finds out about the new $2000 set of clubs you just bought.

Terry Myers' book is an excellent reference guide for golfers of all levels. It's a fast, easy to read book that covers everything from understanding the fundamentals (how and why) to trouble shooting. The illustrations show amazing detail of what each movement should look like in a clear step by step fashion. The Drills and Aids section enables me to practice effectively at home so I can make every minute at the range and on the course count.

Terry has written a text consistent with his philosophy that golf is a game to be enjoyed - not rocket science. His approach combines a total understanding of the mechanics of golf with a passion for teaching the game at every level. The text and illustrations are completely helpful, not a wasted word or superfluous comment to be found. This book will replace confusion with competence and allow students at every level to take their game "up a notch." A winner in every respect.

I've been looking for an easy to use self help guide for a long time. Taking Control of Your Game helped guide me through changes not only in my swing but also my attitude toward the game. My wife and I both found it easy to read, understand, and follow. I wish I had it 10 years ago.

I just finished this book. I have 3 little kids, so it took me about 2 years. This is a fun tactics book. As other reviews have said before, the problems are arranged by themes, and they are *hard*. Some problems go as deep as 6 moves. Others are just brilliancies that some of us will never think of.

To me, the biggest value of this book is that it makes you work under time pressure. Like in a tournament game, you don't have infinite time to find the winning combination. You must learn to manage your time. You can't just sit on a given position and keep going through it in your head endlessly. You must work out all variations and replies fairly quickly and make a move.

The positions in this book are all taken from real games. Sometimes the losing side doesn't choose the best reply, and hence that's why he/she loses. I have wasted a lot of time on some problems because I didn't see a forced win only to find out that the defending side didn't chose the optimal move.

One example is problem 398. 1...Rxe1 is not forced, the king can just move to f8 and give up the rook. A losing proposition, but it sure beats getting mated on the next move! Problem 402's solution is also not optimal play. 1.Nxd7 Qxd7 2.Bxe4 is better (Fritz8) than the given line. There are a few of these.

I would advise you to only purchase this book if you are going to devote the time to go through it right. Use a board, a chess clock and be honest with yourself. Once you think you have the winning combination, write all the moves down, make your first move, and hit the clock. If you followed the main line, and went wrong on a 3rd or 4th move inside the combination don't give yourself full credit.

Will this book make you a better player? I guess as much as any other tactics book that you really work on. There is nothing special on this book that will suddenly transform you.

This book is instructive and fun. I really enjoyed it. I will go through it again in a few months.

I just finished the final test in this book this week after going thru it off and on for nearly ten years (??). When I began the book I was a rank beginner rated under 1000 USCF and when I finished I'm now a mid-1500 player. This book has some fantastic problems...I mean some of them are just art incarnate. That was probably the thing I enjoyed most about this book ; the fact that some of these moves were possible and actually won! My final score was woefully pathetic partly due to the fact that this was one of my first tactics books. And also because I used up enormous amounts of time trying to figure out every line I could with every problem. The time factor in this book will really help tournament players since it adds a pressure element that one would have in an actual game. But it also forces you to either abandon a problem you stubbornly want to solve or burn points using extra time and then possibly not solve it anyway. I would recommend this book to anyone who really wants to elevate his or her tactical ability but be sure to have a solid grounding in basic tactics first. A good workup to this book would be when you were very easily solving problems from a book like Chess Tactics for Students which I found very helpful recently.

Wow. I'm impressed. You can learn a lot of chess with this book, and if you honestly grade and time yourself, you'll get a realistic picture of where you stand.

These puzzles are not easy. They take about 5 minutes each, and you'll have to put in that much time if you want your rating to be indicated accurately. This is NOT for tactics training, even though you will learn from it. You need to be VERY GOOD at tactics before you attempt these; otherwise, you'll get NOTHING correct. You'd be wise to go through Lev Alburt's Chess Training Pocket Book at least once before tackling these.

If you're 1500, you could start this book, but don't rush through it. Do one 8-problem test per week and monitor your progress through the year. (There are 56 tests.)

Each test is prefaced with the sort of tactics you will be looking for, and some of the puzzles are very similar within a test. This is intentional. The authors want you to LEARN, but without making things too obvious.

I have noticed minor typos in the answers, but no actual errors, which is quite rare for a puzzle book. The font, diagram size, printing, and layout are all excellent. The original games are named in the answers, rather than in the problems, to avoid distraction. Remember: These tests are timed!

Highly recommended. But if you're below 1500 USCF, caveat emptor! You don't want to ruin the future value of this book by cheating and looking at all the answers now!

Since this book is in the form of 56 tests, to be taken seriously, as if one were playing a tournament game, I have one obvious complaint. Namely, why tell the reader what the theme is?

Why say it is "double attack," or "discovered attack," or "discovered check," or "pin," or "diversion," or "decoy," or "interference," or "defence-elimination," or "square vacation," or "line-opening," or "utilization of open files," or "diagonal-opening," or "utilization of open diagonals," or "smothered mate," or "blocking," or "x-ray" or "overloading," or "back rank weakness," or "weakness of the second rank," or "zwischenzug," or "passed pawns," or "simplifying combinations," or "stalemating combinations," or "geometrical motifs," or "attack on the king side castled position," or "attack on the king caught in the center," or "destructive combinations?"

These are great themes to test us on, but in a real game, we don't know that there is a theme, let alone which theme!

How good should one be at chess to profit from this book? I think you need to be at least a C-player (1400 USCF) to get the full benefit. And I've seen Masters go through it too! It's good practice for a big range of chess players. It definitely helped me.

This is the first book in the "Test your Chess IQ" series. That in no way means that this book is easy. If you aren't at least about 1500 or so, this book will be way too much for you. Make sure that you read Seiriwan's Winning Chess Tactics and work through both of Reinfeld's 1001 books before tackling this one.

The book consists of dozens of 8-problem tests, spanned across two pages each with the solutions on the next page(to discourage cheating, which I like). The book covers a wide number of themes, and in many cases progresses in difficulty as you work through a motif. For example the first test in Double Attack will be fairly easy, but the next test will take considerably more work.

The author provides a table in the back for you to record your progress. I immediately copied this(so as to have a 'clean copy' incase I want to go through this again, and I'm sure I will). In the beginning of the book the author provides instructions on how to score your answers, and approximately what rating they correspond to.

The best way to go through these puzzles is to do one a week, making sure to use all or most of the time given to solve the puzzles(remember, you have to find all the reasonable defenses for the losing side, not just the first move or one particular winning line).

Don't be discouraged if you struggle with it in the very beginning. You'll be amazed by how quickly you begin to see things and your percentage scores will rise. A nice thing about this book is that most of the problems were taken from real games, proof that these sort of combinations DO happen and you need to be able to see them when they do.

The book is thin but large enough that it folds open easily and is written in descriptive notation. Almost all of the analysis I've done on problems has been accurate(only his move is best), except for one problem where my move was a little better according to Fritz.

All in all this is an outstanding and challenging introduction to advanced tactics. Go through the books I mentioned above first, but make sure that this book is in your hands afterwards.

Great. Clancy's three best books in one. Impossible to put down as you never know what is going to happen next.

This book has three excellent titles in one. A must buy and a great price too.

There certainly seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to how they throw together Tom Clancy novels together in these collections. Here we have the 3rd, 5th and 6th of Clancy's novels, which are the 2nd, 4th and 5th of the Jack Ryan novels (except that while "Patriot Games" was written 2nd it actually takes place before the "1st" Jack Ryan novel, "The Hunt for Red October"--are you taking notes?). However, the two common denominators are that of the first six Clancy novels these three are the three better ones and that all three books have been turned into films.

"Patriot Games" explains why the English keep calling Ryan "Sir John" in "The Hunt for Red October." I always fancied that Clancy had written this novel first (or, at least had the idea for the story first), but that having Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth be characters in a fictional novel was frowned upon; however, I consider the relationship between the Ryans and the Royals to be one of the most compelling aspects of the novel. Certainly "Patriot Games" shows a great leap forward in Clancy's writing style. The novel literally begins with a bang as Ryan thwarts an attack by a I.R.A. splinter group. What happens afterwards brings him into the fold of the C.I.A. The ending of the novel, decidedly different from that of the film version, refutes the idea that Clancy is a reactionary conservative.

"Clear and Present Danger" presents a scenario that remains one of the most attractive as a real world solution to a continuing problem, namely the use of the U.S. military to put the Columbian drug cartels out of business. The problem, of course, is that the President decides to make this a covert mission, which provides ample opportunity for things to go too far. This is the novel that introduces Ding Chavez to John Clark, and Clark to Ryan for that matter. In terms of the characters in the Jack Ryan novels, "Clear and Present Danger" is the one that probably has the most resonance with the rest of the series. Much is made of the way Clancy incorporates cutting edge technology into his narratives, but his strength has always been his characters. There is no better example of this aspect than in the beginning of "Clear and Present Danger," when Clancy introduces us to the character of Red Wegener with such wonderful detail that we are surprised to discover he ends up being a minor character in the novel.

"The Sum of All Fears" is one of Clancy's novels where you certainly hope that he is not prescient. Middle Eastern terrorists get a hold of a nuclear weapon and decide to detonate it at the Super Bowl. However, this is not a simple act of terrorism but part of a larger game that seeks to have the United States and the Soviet Union skip over a return to the Cold War and go right for a nuclear exchange. Meanwhile, Jack Ryan is caught in the switches as a new president comes into office and his National Security Advisor wants our hero's head on a platter. When the bomb detonates events escelate beyond the speed of those on both sides to process the information and make decisions than hurtle the world towards oblivion.

As always, you are urged to read all of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels in order even though what we have here qualifies as the essence of the first part of the Jack Ryan saga. After this point, following an interlude with the first John Clark novel, we move from Jack Ryan the CIA years to Jack Ryan the White House years. Although his recent novels have seen like they were written by rote, these three novels will more than evidence why Clancy has a devote following who love to consume his massive tomes as soon as they come out in hardback.

This product contains three of the most action packed novels by Tom Clancy: Patriot Games, a book about Irish terrorists bent on killing Jack Ryan, which is far superior to the movie; Clear and Present Danger, which is deeper than the movie, but slower moving, and The Sum of All Fears, which is destined to the theater, has a plot of peace in the Middle East and an excellent ending. Well worth the price.

For sentimental reasons only, I view 'Hunt For Red October' as Clancy's best book, but these 3 cannot be far behind, especially 'Clear & Present Danger' and 'The Sum Of All Fears'. Absolutely riviting novels that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Clancy truly has his finger squarely on the pulse of what is going on in the world -- or what COULD go on.

'Patriot Games' is a phenomenal story of revenge from an IRA Terrorist who's plot to assassinate Charles & Di is thwarted by Jack Ryan, who is completely unaware of the horrific consequences of his actions. GREAT read.

'Clear & Present Danger' is a VERY complicated story of the war on drugs and a few people in high places making some pretty rash decisions that creates a completely incredible situation and Clancy ties it all together in one of his all-time best stories. Highly recommended.

'The Sum Of All Fears' is another Clancy rocket-of-a-novel with many plots and sub-plots, all of which are tied neatly together in the end revolving around a few middle-eastern bad guys who get their dirty fingers on an actual Israeli atomic bomb, converting it into a thermo-nuclear device, and their plans of actually using it on American soil. A true Clancy masterpiece.

All three of these books are worth buying, but if you can manage to grab this particular book with ALL of them, do NOT hesitate, just DO IT! Any Clancy fan worth his/her salt cannot call their collection complete without this. Just hours and hours of absolute thrilling reading.

There are not any new ideas or theories presented but it does consolidate just about everything you need to know for advanced poker tournaments. Very well written and a must read for any serious players, worth its weight in gold. Study it and prosper, thank you from SuperAggressive.com.

Normally when I review a poker book (and I've reviewed perhaps a dozen, including Mitchell Cogert's previous one on Razz) I like to take issue with a recommended play or two. The truth is there IS more than one way to skin a cat (a catfish, that is), and opinions can differ. Furthermore it's fun to offer a different strategy. Here, however, I'm going to skip the quibbling and just say straight out that Cogert knows what he's talking about and his advice really is "expert."

What I especially like about this book is how Cogert combines personal experience (he's a very good player who has, among other things, won the Northern California Championship for no-limit hold'em in 2002) with knowledge from books and from watching some of the top pros. His basic point is that to get beyond the bubble in no-limit tournaments you have to be willing to take risks. Nobody ever won a big no limit tournament who didn't gamble, and some of the most spectacular wins (Chris Moneymaker in 2003 and Jamie Gold in 2006) came about after some really wild risk taking! The plain fact is that in any tournament luck is a huge factor. You can increase your luck (or decrease it!) by taking chances. What is taking a chance? It means not playing "scared poker." Yes, it will happen that 65 percent of the time an overcard to your pocket jacks will fall on the flop (as Cogert explains in the appendix on "Most frequently asked poker questions"). And yes, pocket rockets tend in no-limit to win a lot of small pots, but when they get cracked, they drain your chips seriously--although people tend to forget that some of the biggest pots are won when pocket aces improve, or when somebody decides to make a stand with a painted pair.

Regardless of the danger, to have any hope of winning a tournament you must play aggressively and, well, bravely. In poker the aggressive player has the edge--that is, up to a very fine point where one can be too aggressive. Most players, as Cogert points out, tend to revert to survival mode sometime during a tournament. This can be a huge mistake. Follow Cogert's dictum: "Risk is good" and don't be caught leaning back in your seat until the tournament is over.

Another thing I like about "Tournament Poker: 101" are the tips themselves. They have the power even if never used of opening the player's mind to the possibilities and to what the other guy may be up to. And of course you're unlikely to ever use all 101 of them, and in fact, as some of the plays become routine, you'll have to abandon them, and come up with counter plays. But that is the beauty of poker. You need to change your strategy for the situation, to counter the moves of your opponents. Switch gears. Be creative, but avoid Mike Caro's Fancy Play Syndrome, Cogert advises.
In a way this book is a kind of original digest of the three volume set written by Dan Harrington, which is considered the "bible" of tournament play. Cogert's book doesn't have the seating diagrams with pot size and bets that Harrington's book has--which I think are okay but unnecessary--but it does have something else. Instead of precise analysis (although there is plenty of that), Cogert gives the reader the view from reality with the understanding that you and I are not Jesus Ferguson level mathematicians or Dan Harrington level analysts. Cogert conveys in his recounting of hands played, or in his advice on how to play a hand or how to make a "play," the actual sense of the experience, and lets you know how it feels to get there. Or not.

Cogert emphasizes the rough and tumble of tournament play, the psychology of not only your opponents, but the psychology of the tournament milieu itself and how it can affect you, as for example a run of dead cards leading to a migraine. He provides an appendix on "planning" which he calls "boring but necessary," both before the tournament and during each hand, from before the cards are in the air through the flop, turn and river.

Finally, "Tournament Poker: 101" is just simply a lot of fun to read.

This book is one of the best , I have seen or purchased almost every poker book available.The only way it could be improved is if by magic the
pages turned into full motion video. Highly Instructive, Informative and Interesting, what more can you ask of a book.

I had intensely studied the books refered to as the "poker bibles" yet I had been continuously finishing on the bubble in major tournaments. After reading "Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves" I finally had my first breakthrough and finished in the money in a $1500 No Limit Hold'em Event at the 2008 WSOP. The ideas in this book were key to my getting there. If you are looking for success - and the ideas missing from the poker bibles - then this is the book for you. Thanks Mitchell!

It's not all original, very little of it is groundbreaking, and most of it has been written before. What is amazing is that in a book less than an inch thick, you get the best of books you would have to spend perhaps thousands of dollars on to get the same great information.

Some of the 101 tips you may never use, but just one or two of them may end up making you 100 or more times the price of the book. Here's a problem for you: you have 4000 chips and are on the button. The blinds are 100/200 and a player in early position raises to 600. Everyone folds to you and you look down at 88. What do you do? This is the type of hand that presents a problem for many novices, and causes angry debates among experienced players. After reading this book, there's no doubt how to play this hand, and when I read the tip regarding this situation and the explanation, it was like the brightest light bulb ever went off in my head.

This book has the potential to set off 101 of those light bulbs. Consider me impressed, and grateful to have this tool that so many other players don't.

This book isn't just about making bows. It has a great section on making bow strings from primative materials or modern ones. Includes design of stings, types, features. Great to learn to make a string for that bow you just made.

This book is written by several experts and is essentially a compilation of individual articles, each of which is outstanding in the detail of the direction given. However, for a person seeking to make a particular bow, all 3 books of the series are needed and there is not an orderly progression. Just count on buying all three, reading them all, making decisions based on what you've learned, and then picking chapters to help you as you go along.

Great book this has all of the details of making a good bow and more. I am very pleased with its content and recomend all three volumes.

This volume is very explicative and not lost any details of his points. All the volumes makes a great help, and even a single powerfull source of information, to anyone who want to make the finest traditional bows, i recomend !

If someone need to know all regarding archery and bow-making has to buy all these 3 volumes. Here you can find a huge quantity of informations and suggestions regarding it.
The books are also improved with a lot of imagines.
Andreas from Italy

Many months ago, I purchased "The Ultimate Guide to Handicapping the Horses". I'm Canadian, and grew up loving harness racing more than the runners. The title caught my eye, along with the last name of the author for I can vividly remember a driver by the same name. I'm not sure if there is any relation, but this book was extremely informative and INCREDIBLY INTRIGUING! I haven't received "The Tuttle Way II" yet, but I'm greatly anticipating learning more from this amazingly talented vanity writer.

Good Luck to all!

J.R.

The book is short but packed with soe really nice methods.I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone!

Bought your book TTW with the idea of getting
at least one "nugget" like I do from all handicapping
books.

The use of the DRF number and variant coupled with
the Beyer was enough out there that I liked it. Also,
the passing horses which I have not used was useful.
I didn't understand the hooking winnings to that but
I will read that chapter again. Lastly, the Double
Bet Down was a jaw dropper. However, as I
play mostly horizontal bets I may not get to employee
that angle as often as I should.

I did play the TuP Pic4, can't play SoCal due to
the dispute over my money, today adding your two
enhancements and hit it for about $270 with a
3:5 cinch in the last leg.

I definately think all novice horse bettors should buy this book. Some nice tips & tricks that can only help you make better betting decisions.

(Her review IS completely inaccurate and despicable!)

And for the record, it has AMAZED me over the years how
writer's of handicapping books have misspelled the word "intrinsic",
by spelling it "intrensic", for YEARS!!!! Yet this man who writes first drafts in
purple crayon, gets it correct?! This women's review was/is completely
defaming, and it's a shame Mr. Tuttle cannot sue on the basis of defamation
of character! At the very least, her "review" in slanderous.


God, where should I begin. First off, I think it should be noted that the
real/true beauty of being a "Vanity Author" (as Mr. Tuttle probably is) comes
from the fact that there aren't sixteen different versions floating around.
Think about it.... Do you really think that the likes of some of your more notable
horse handicapping writer's don't actually need a lot of help with grammar
and punctuation? Joseph Tuttle is clearly a man doing this on his own, in an
effort to better serve us! HE IS A PROFESSIONAL GAMBLER..... www.winners57.com

He makes no bones about it, he is a horseman first and foremost, and his
horsemanship perspective has taught me more than I had ever dreamed imaginable. His methodologies are insightful and stimulating.
I purchased this book (at a different site) some two months ago, and have had
some incredible results. As far as I'm concerned, for someone write a such
disparaging remarks they must have an axe to grind!!! Ms. Shawda Brown....
You should be ashamed of yourself! Didn't anyone ever teach you the old saying....
"If you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all."?
In closing, I want to leave all of you with a wonderful excerpt from "The Tuttle Way".


Excerpt from this book......

".....This is also how you can determine how strong of a "brush" a horse might have,
which can ultimately lead to more winners and a better overall opinion
(for yourself to develop), of horseflesh.


{What I like to do looks something like this...}


:22 (for the horse that led after the opening quarter)
:23 (my "horse of interest" was sitting 3rd, 5 lengths off the leader)

:45(the time that the leader of said race hit the half at)
:45.1 (my horse was still sitting 3rd, but now only one length off the lead)


At this point you need to calculate three of four highly intrinsic variables:......"

Summer 2000 Collectors's Value Guide for Ty Beanie Babies is great. Packed with lots of useful information, colorful pictures of all, and places to record your collections. Includes new Beanie Kids too!

Looking for a good book to give you information on your collection? I know this book sure helps me! This guide with it's color-filled pictures, and acurate Ty prices is the perfect book to help you with your collection. It also has bonus ways on how to tell a counterfeit from an original. I almost bought a counterfeit Pincess and Doby, if this guide didn't help me. It includes a time line of all Ty Beanie Baby events, plus information on how to tell which Beanie Baby will be expenisive in a year. I bought one for (sadly) $20 and it was $40 two months later. And don't forget, this book it good for all different stages of Beanie collecting! If you're a collector, this Beanie book is the book for you! :-)

as a 'novice' beanie collector, this book has been the MOST helpful in learning to recognize all the beanies/teenies/et al; don't waste your money on any others, as I have... the pics alone are great; i would be totally lost without this guide!

Ty Beanie Babies Summer 2000 Collecor's Guide is a great way to inventory your collection whether you collect Beanie Babies, Buddies, Teenie Beanies, or *New* Beanie Kids. This book details with a picture of each baby and value by version tags. It also has a guide to distinguish which "hang tag" or "tush tag" you have. Whether you have a large collection or just getting started, I highly recommend this book for you.

Looking for a good book to give you information on your collection? I know this book sure helps me! This guide with it's color-filled pictures, and acurate Ty prices is the perfect book to help you with your collection. It also has bonus ways on how to tell a counterfeit from an original. I almost bought a counterfeit Pincess and Doby, if this guide didn't help me. It includes a time line of all Ty Beanie Baby events, plus information on how to tell which Beanie Baby will be expenisive in a year. I bought one for (sadly) $20 and it was $40 two months later. And don't forget, this book it good for all different stages of Beanie collecting! If you're a collector, this Beanie book is the book for you! :-)

I really enjoyed this accesory. All the charachters are fleshed out and belivable. Its added a lot to my planescape campaign.

In this book you can see people in Sigil that think in very strange forms. people that think in your factions and they living for something.

If you like Planescape, you'll love "Faces". It's certainly my favourite PS release to date; the forty-plus characters described are all incredibly original, detailed and exciting; the artwork's fantastic; and -- the real reason I love this book to pieces -- each character's intricately linked to the others, creating a great web of intrigue and deceit. And that's _exactly_ how I see Sigil. Buy this book. You won't be disappointed.

This book is alot of fun to read! Instead of just giving game information on the NPCs (Non-Player characters), the reader is also given an idea of each character's believable personality and story. These guys aren't cardboard cut-outs. Before long, the reader starts to feel like they're actual people who live next-door!

The best part is that each characters' story is connected to each other in some sort of indirect network.

TSR did a good job in making a living, breathing book. Not only is this a game reference book, but a well-crafted story book too!

This book also has strong connections to FACTION WAR and IN THE CAGE: A GUIDE TO SIGIL. It also has some connections to the other Planescape products.

What I like about this book is that it is all Char development. Every NPC in the book is linked to every other NPC in the book. I think its useful for DM cause it gives 40+ NPC of all lvl that the PC can more realisticly meet. Cause com on how many Faction high ups will give the pcs at low lvl the time of day? Where this book gives you the common fock who really keep the city of door interesting and on its feet.

Traditionally chess books are often grouped in the categories: opening, middle game and ending. Marovic's book "Understanding pawn play in chess" covers a very important topic in chess, which includes all the three phases of a game. It will help you little if you know the moves in the French opening, but you don't know how to handle the pawn chain from a French opening. Means how to attack the wedge and the base of the pawn chain. "Understanding pawn play in chess" will help you to do understand what to do with pawn chain. So if you want to extend your knowledge about pawn structures this is the book for you. The topics covered in this book are: isolated pawns, isolated pawn couples, hanging pawns, passed, doubled, backward, pawn chains and pawn islands.

One Minus with this book, is that the author and Gambitbooks could have used more diagrams for each game. You must always use the board when going through this book. With more diagrams describing the most interesting position for the pawn subject, the book would become more readable.

I personnaly own half a dosen books wrote in croatian from Drazen Marović, and they are excellent. Unfortunately, he doesnt publish in Croatia any more, so this is the only way to read his fresh stuff. Games of high quality in this book are anotated in a way which can help to improve your understanding, not just about pawn play, but about overall strategic issues in midgame, and correspondance between pawns and pieces. Recomended.

Having read the classic manual Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis, I was very interested to see how this book would stack up. I learned a lot from Soltis, and I hoped to expand my understanding about how pawn structures affect plans and strategy. I was not disappointed. Marovic uses many, many complete game examples, but his annotations are so succinct and clear as to make the large number of games effortless to get through. One thing he does well which is VERY hard for most chess authors is present the model games in a sequence in which their respective lessons build upon one another to deeply reinforce the concepts he's trying (and succeeding) to instruct. The one caveat, if you want to call it that, is that I think this book will be most helpful for people with an intermediate knowledge of openings, as the pawn positions discussed tend to reoccur in specific openings with specific piece placements. However, this shouldn't be a problem as I believe the intended audience is above 1600 USCF anyway, and should thus know the difference between a QGA and a QGD.

Often overlooked is the importance of preparing long term planning for not just the endgame, but the use of pawn chains, and even what is considered a weakness, doubled pawns being used as a "battering ram!" and opening a file. These are very important aspects of chess and what has been called the "backbone" of chess is often forgotten in light of only tactics. True, tactics books, trap books and opening books have a very important place and all should be studied. But the "use of pawns" should not just be a chapter in a book, it should be a couple volumes of books! If you are a beginner, even an lower end intermediate player you will get more results in studying tactic and chess traps. But Once you reach a solid intermediate level then you should start thinking more about the finer points of play. Now, I like the overall approach of "Understanding Pawn Play in Chess" but I think a few words (to say the least) were lost in the translation (it seems clear to me that the author's first language was not english), which is why, though I feel this is a good book, some of the important ideas were lost the the translation, and can be a little confusing. Solitis's "Pawn Structure Chess" is a good alternative. I also like going over complete game books such as, "Understanding Chess" and "Unbeatable Chess Lessons and More Unbeaable Chess Lessons" as ways to gain an understanding of all aspects of the game, including the critical use of pawns.

This book uses complete games to examine pawn structures--their strengths and weaknesses. Marovic uses a conversational tone to explain important points and keeps analysis to the minimum needed to illustrate the explanation. In separate chapters he examines isolated pawns, passed pawns, doubled pawns, backward pawns and pawn-chains.
Marovic uses games from throughout the history of chess to illustrate his material and does a great job. I would recommend this book for players rated (USCF) from Class B and up, although rapidly advancing lower rated players would also benefit from reading the book as well.
The only thing that could make it better would be a few more diagrams.

As always Angus McBride's color plates are as lifelike as can be. Especially, plates A,E,F, & G. These elite series are more in depth than the usual armor, weapons, & uniforms. The text is more varied. From their origins in the eigth century to all their adventures from all compass points, we get little gems of information. A refreshingly wide range of sources are used. Norse sagas, English, Arab, Byzantine, Frankish, & Irish chronicles. Most areas are touched on to varying degrees. From their tactics, well known campaigns, & the Varangian guard to the less known "Jomsvikings." The latter being independent, strictly run mercenary companies.

Also, some interesting anecdotes: Did you know that dark hair was much more common among the Danes than the Swedes & Norwegians? That certainly would explain the physical appearance of the Normans on the Bayeux Tapestry. If it had a dozen more pages I would have given it five stars. For 63 pages it was well worth the price.

This is by far the best book on the Vikings from a military perspective, Osprey or otherwise. The text is concise and is both exciting and informative. The plates depict the Viking warriors as well as their enemies and their women with lifelike expressions and poses, and include several spirited battlescenes.

One of the best books I have seen on the Vikings. The Text does a brief but good & concise job about the history of the Norsemen. That & the illustrations of these barbarian slavers is 1st rate and worth the price alone.
Well done to all hands involved!

Like other books in the Osprey Elite series, this one held my interest throughout. Therefore I finished it very quickly. The illustrations help me visualize what real life Vikings must have looked like.

The description of the Viking rite of "carving-the-blood-eagle" was something that I had never read anywhere before. Imagine the terror of seeing these guys arriving from over the horizon ca. 950 A.D.

I have always been a big fan of the Osprey series books, and a fan of Angus MacBride's work.
This book is a good overview of the evolving nature of Viking warfare, from the first raids on the British isles, to the end of the Viking period.
Included is a useful collection of photos of Viking weapons, armour annd other artifacts. But for me, the star of the show was the colour plates, what amazing work! MacBride gives us a diversity of glimpses, such as Viking home-life, building a long ship, the aftermath of a raid, and a great sea-battle, and the end of the Norse adventure in North America.
This is a great book for anyone interested in the Viking period!