Games Books

Want to gain a deep insight into a book written by one of the better writers and players of all time? Tarrasch was a top notch tournament chess player. He wrote this book to help the intermediate player really learn about the game without just trying to make a buck off of a book! If you are an adult reader, who wants to gain an insight by an oldtime, but smartimer, then enjoy this book! I can certainly recomment "Understanding Chess" by Nunn, both "Unbeatable Chess Lesons for Juniors", "More Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors" and "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" by Snyder, and "The Art of Checkmate" by Renaud, but this book is right up there with them as equals.

This book is simply a classic. It was given to me by an older friend who played during the seventies mostly, when I showed an interest in the game. It goes from complete basics (the endgame with 2-4 pieces usually) all the way to intermediate club player level.
This book was a joy to read, Tarrasch is truly one of chess's greatest teachers that has lived. His passion and infectious love for the game is captivating. Tarrasch teaches the game in a highly instructive, concise, and understandable fasion aimed at the complete beginner all the way up to someone who plays in chess clubs.
I wish they'd release an algebraic version of this book, as it would make it slightly easier to read. The descriptive notation is more old school and not used so much anymore.
If you haven't read this, or know someone who wants to get more into chess theory and become a better player, then BUY THIS.
I cannot recommend it enough.

The older editions of this book are wonderful. Tarrash's teaching methods are both unique and powerful. Unfotunately the "amatuers" that tried to reformat the new algebreic version essentially trashed it! Juxtaposition a Dover copy with the "new" version and see for yourself. If only they would have solicited some advice from John Nunn with respect to typesetting, or failing that, just convert the descriptive notation to algebreic. An opportunity missed.

I'm 41 years old, and I'm a Portuguese lawyer. I became acquainted with the game of chess when I was a child, but I learned how to play it when I was already a law student. By then, my father offered me a copy of the (not very good) French translation of Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch's «The Game of Chess». Before that, I read many, too many books and articles on the subject, without any pleasure or profit. After the careful study I did of this specific book, I ventured to play my first official tournament: it was a good enough one, and I did so well I got immediately over 1600 (portuguese) ELO! In spite of that, I never took Chess very seriously: while I was a student I seldom played official games, and after my graduation I virtually had to stop. Since my personal and professional life stabilized in the meantime, I decided to try it again a couple of years ago. For that purpose, I studied once more «The Game of Chess», never dreaming of what was really going to happen. The weekend before last, I played my very first international «Open»: five sessions with forty players, of which twenty-six with (high) ELO FIDE, two with FM titles and three with IM titles. Having just 1913 (national) ELO and looking at so strong a competition, I estimated the best I'd get would be something around 1,5 points. Surprise! I've finished 8th (3rd «ex aequo»), with 3,5 points (+3=2−1) (1,5 points against three international ranked players, of which one with IM and another with FM titles) and a performance of 2293 (!) (the second best in the tournament) which earned me the right to get my first ever ELO FIDE. The next player like me finished only 22nd, with 2 points. I left behind one player with a FM title and twenty players with ELO FIDE. I was flabbergasted: how could a simple amateur obtain such a good result?! The answer was: Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch's «The Game of Chess»!
Many critics consider this the finest all-round manual on the game: I think they're right. It had an outstanding success when it was first published in Germany in 1931 and in Great-Britain in 1934. Such a success was largely due to the apparently unorthodox but extremely effective teaching method the author used, one «analogous to that a mother uses to teach her child to talk»: «the intuitive method of instruction». After dealing with the elements, the author proceeds not to the opening but to the end-game, «since obviously it is easier for the beginner to deal with a few men than with the entire thirty-two». Dr. Tarrasch doesn't waste any time with «all those eng-games which do not occur in actual play»: he goes right through explaining the fundamental positions of this part of the game, doing it so simply and clearly that one finds himself quite able to understand some longer end-games (four in number) with which he concludes this part of his book. After the end-game comes the part dealing with the middle-game, «the most important part of the game». He not only traces back «to fixed and constantly recurring types the manifold combinations of chess», but also gives the standard positional concepts of the game: through the «study of the typical combinations and attacks», one makes himself familiarized more than enough «with the raw material» for «the conduct of the middle game, as regards both tactics and strategy». Finally, Dr. Tarrasch comes to the opening, «the most difficult part of the game». After presenting a general theory of the opening, he deals «with the important lines of practically all the openings», though not pretending to be «exhaustive». (More than seventy years after the first edition of this book, the section on the various openings is somewhat dated, particularly on the Indian Defenses; but, to my mind, not as dramatically dated as critics say). A few games (seven in the german edition, twelve in the English edition), «very fully annotated», form the concluding part of the manual.
Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch's «The Game of Chess» is «A Systematic Text-book for Beginners and More Experienced Players». To me, it's more than that: it's the true Chess Bible. Besides, it's the culminating point of the literary production of the greatest chess teacher of all times: the «Praeceptor Germaniae seu Mundi», as he is known even today. «Naturally, for further progress the study of master games is most important - but only those games which are accompanied by the most complete and apposite notes.» In my case, I decided to study Fred Reinfeld's «Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess»: there were no other Dr. Tarrasch's books translated to English when I finished reading his manual. Again I made great progresses: in fact, I learned more and more about the game with the same teacher, since Reinfeld in many cases merely follows Dr. Tarrasch's own analyses and comments. Now, at long last, «Three Hundred Chess Games», «Montecarlo 1903» and «St. Petersburg 1914» are available in English (not yet «Die moderne Schachpartie», which is a pity): once read both «The Game of Chess» and «Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess», these are the next books to study, preferably by this order. After this (and, if I may say so, only after this), one may go on to other authors - above all Alekhine. But don't you forget to start with the Chess Bible: Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch's «The Game of Chess»...

I read this book after Chess Fundamentals, and found it was very similar in its layout. The difference is that this book is much longer, because of its smaller type, and it answers many of the questions that Chess Fundamentals left unanswered; for example, from Chess Fundamentals I learned a few openings, the Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit, Petroff, French Defence, and a couple others, but The Game of Chess discusses 28 openings. Part 3, on the middle game, covers a few details not found in other books, like illusory protection and the point QB6 as a target for attack. This book was very helpful to me, a player who finished reading Chess Fundamentals and wanted a more thourough lesson.

This is just one of those mangas you can't help but become addicted to. The story is SO CUTE! And it's hella funny. Kyo (the girl posing as a guy) is not your normal manga style girl, she seems to be more guy-ish (espically once you get to vol.6 and up-she seems to have a perverted mind-) It was non stop laughs when I was reading this book ( I was kicked out of my school library for laughing too loud..*cough*). The art style is also very well done, the funny expressions will catch you off gaurd :p Bottom line: TRY THIS SERIES!-you won't regret it----

I'msure if you've read the other reviews, then you know what this book is about by now.

I really loved this series. It's a bit like a modern-day Mulan, only the main character was forced to do something against her will, while Mulan was completely on her own with the important decision.

Awesome for teens. Especially if you like basketball. Highly recommended!

Girl Got Game is one of my favorite manga series. I haven't read that many series, but i still like it a lot. Its about a girl who's dad loves basketball, but when he was in collage he injured himself and couldn't play nationally, so he enrolls her as a boy in a co-ed school so she can play basketball as a guy for him.
She meets a guy who she hates at first, but eventually falls in love with, and its just a really nice story of a girl who has some problems but gets over them and falls in love along the way. I like the story most because she learns to like a guy she once hated, which shows that you can fall in love with anyone, no matter who they are, and i can personally relate to that (not with a guy i hate, but a friend who was very unexpected). So yeah, i think its a great manga, probably more for girls than guys but whatever.

Power!! (Girl Got Game) is a very good shoujo series. It's about girl named Kyou Aizawa, who ends up entering a high school known for 1. their very cute uniforms, and 2. their elite basketball team. It turns out that Kyou ended up entering the school as a GUY rather than a girl (poor Kyou, she didn't get to wear the pretty uniform>_< this was all her dad's plan).
So, anyway, when Kyou started school, she met Eniwa Chiharu, who is on the team. She didn't have a very good start with getting to know him, and later, they end up being roommates in their dorms.
Kyou has to go through many difficulties to be act as a guy and not be found out. When taking a bath, she has to make sure that the coast is clear, and that no one would come in, so she takes it while everyone else is having dinner. She has to wear the boys' uniform, and so no one will become suspicious, she also straps down her chest.
This is all I'm willing to share, for those who have not read this series. Good series, and has the same cuteness as Seino-sensei's other works, such as Heaven!!, and Suki Suki Darin (those aren't released in the US yet. I read from scanalations).
If you read this series, you will find it has similarities to Hana-Kimi. Well, good reading! Ciao! (I wanted to say that, just telling you I'm not Italian or anything of that matter.)

I started reading this manga and was very happy to find yet another good manga to read. I seem to be attracted to the whole girl-acting-as-a-guy type of manga. So the story started off good. It was about a girl pretending to be a boy so she can play basketball. But as the story continued...and neared the ending...I discovered that it was becoming very dumb. The plot kinda died and people were acting in stupid ways and I'm sorry but I do not advise you to read it. It's kinda odd to right a review like this. I'm trying to explain this in the best way possible so here you go.

Beginning = GOOD. ^-^

Ending = GAHH. WTF!?!!?!? D<

This is a really cute book for toddlers/preschoolers/K-2 kids. It helps with colors for the really little ones, then with short sentences to read or write later. I actually bought this for my 10 year old daughter - lol - she always loved this book. I guess the bright colors and sparkle of the foil cut outs of the eggs appealed to her in Kindergarten when she saw it in the school library - she's checked it out every year at least 6 times ever since (4th grade now). Every kid has a few books that they just adore and can't get enough of, so I got it for her to keep and give her own kid(s) some day (she has my old copy of "Bambi's Fragrant Forest" - a 1970's scratch 'n sniff book). It's a visually pleasing book and little ones will enjoy it.

I love the illustrations in this book!!! My 2-year-old may be a little too young for the story, but she loves looking at the pictures.

My son learned his colors because of this book! Each page has a different color of egg, the story rhymes so well, and its a lift-the-flap book! The pictures have so much detail sometimes we spend extra time looking in the background for other animals and talking about what they are doing. We've had this book for a year and it is still very popular at our house!

I purchased this book for my nephew and he absolutely loves it. Beautiful illustrations and a very cute story for children from 1-6 years old. However, the book seemed a bit warped when I purchased it but I attributed it due to the delivery process.

One of the nicest things about this book is how well it is designed. Children love beautiful materials and this book delivers. Today, electronic media is so prevelant in childrens' lives. This book, though, offers children the opportunity to relax and read pages filled with awe and wonder. Quality colors, papers and decorations invite children into the Natural Easter world of the forest and imagination. It's beautifully adorned with sparkling, jeweled pages made to entertain and peak interest.

I bought this book several years ago when I was just learning to twist balloons. I really bought it as instructional material, but what a surprise to see how Addi and Charlie took something as simple as balloons and traveled the world bringing happiness and communication to so many different cultures. Don't get me wrong, the instructions are clear, and the hats are wonderful, but it's the pictures from their travels that makes this book so special.

There was also a documentary made by A.G. Vermouth called "Balloonhat", that is the story of how this book came about. You can find it by searching the internet. I would highly recommend it if you enjoy this book.

Great work Addi and Charlie.

The book came in a week's time. It's a very good book to learn all sorts of hat balloons. It's good especially for people who are not very creative, but can be by the end. If you are bored of making the same old jester or helmet hat, by all means, this book is for you. You will be amazed.

I've order several balloon book but this is the best! The colorful balloon pictures are magnificant and the instructions are easy to follow. What really stands out in this book is how they have traveled all around the world to bring smiles to people faces with their creativate balloon hats that they have made.

This book has all the basics. What you learn in this book will help you make any kind of balloon hat you can think of!

This is a great gift for any age. I got this book and kit for my 44th Birthday and did I have a ball with it. The book itself is beautifully photographed. It is amazing to see where the authors went and who they shared their wonderful, creative talents with. Even if you don't want to make balloon hats the book is a coffee table must. The kit part is loads of fun. The directions are easy to understand and within minutes we were making wonderful, goofy, silly hats, including my 5 year old son and his friends. A gift that will bring lightheartedness and lots of laughter and fun to all. I suggest buying extra balloons, once you get started you won't want to stop.

Not having read the book nor able to check it out from a library, I relied totally on reviewers 5 star comments when deciding to purchase this book. Just about 1/3 the way into the book my parental radar piqued at the conversation between Reggie and Ira concerning ghost stories, "scary, creepy, spooky ghost stories." To my sorrow, no mention or even allusion of this was in any of the reviews.

My youngest 3 children (two 5 year olds and a 7 year old) are from a culture that emphasizes ghosts, the boogie man, evil spirits, etc. in a demonic fashion. Prior to becoming part of our family, ghosts were used as a form of disciplne to terrorize them to comply and obey. Even after having them in our family for a year they still struggle with the memories of these demons. Since the ghost story is the climax in Ira Sleeps Over, I do not recommend this book.

These books are perfect. His ear for spoken language is dead-on. It's a joy to read aloud.

This is one of the sweetest bedtime stories, getting kids ready for sleeping over with a reassuring message. Best of all, it features two little boys. There's not a lot of gentle message kids books out there that feature little boys.

This is timeless kiddie lit story: Ira is invited to his first sleep over. Ira's older sister, however, casts doubt in Ira's mind. Will Reggie laugh because Ira sleeps with a teddy bear? Should he go with or without his beloved teddy? His parents are supportive and Ira makes his decision, only to change his mind once again.

Jim Trealease, of Read-Aloud fame, read this story, with appropriate voices to a group of teachers. I was so enchanted with it that later, when I taught high school, I asked permission of my seniors to tell them Ira Sleeps Over. They loved it!

Every night Ira does the same thing. If others outside his family find out, he is afraid they will laugh at him or call him a baby. And just what does he do? He sleeps with a teddy bear.

Now, he really has a problem because his friend, Reggie, has invited him to sleepover at his house. Ira has NEVER slept without his teddy bear. Should he take it with him? His parents say yes, but his sister--who seems to be very sure of herself--tells Ira he'll be laughed at for sure. Ira is afraid he can't sleep without his teddy bear. Yet, he doesn't want to be thought of as a baby by Reggie either. What a problem! And what a good story. [A realistic fiction picture book suitable through the primary grades.]

This book changed my life. As a 21 year old male who is trying to bridge the gap between adolescence and adulthood this book has been instrumental in my outlook on life. Primarily from the standpoint that im not alone with my feelings. I picked this book up by chance (something I do with all good books I read) and never put it down. I read it a second time right after I finished it, just to pick out all the nuance. Amazing!!!

I picked this book up at one of those outlet mall bookshops thinking there really was nothing else, but what the hell I could spend the $5. With no expectations I started reading the book and could not put it down. A good escape from the 20something chic lit. Finally a hilarious book on relationships from a guy's point of view. I am so glad I paid the $5 and would pay more if I could find another book that resembles this one in truth and wit.

One word - [great]. Gleacher has really hit on something with this book. I couldn't put it down from first page to last. Funny, serious, sad, happy - it has it all. I would thoroughly recommend it. Question is when is the next Gleacher novel coming our way??

Read it and weep (tears of laughter, that is). In between tournaments, I like to relax with a good novel. This one certainly fit the bill. In fact, as I was nearing the end of the book, I was so eager to get back to my hotel to finish it that I three putted on eighteen. But it was worth it. Great book.

So I'm reading this and trying to compare Jimmy Gleacher to other writers - "he's like Nick Hornby, no, he's like C.D. Payne, no..." and then it occured to me - he's not like anybody. He's like himself. His original style - a rare thing in pop fiction - is reason enough to check out his book. His humor is another good reason. His take on class is a third one. (How many reasons do you need, already?)
Yeah, it's a chick book, but it's darn funny, and not like anything else you'll read. Plus it has the Gooseman - the best reason of all. Try it, you'll like it.

As others have noted, it's an easy book to quickly read and underestimate, but it's a very useful book when you actively think it through. I can vouch for its value as I'm about to use it for the second time in my undergrad intro to Entrepreneurship class at Marquette U. Judging from the quality of the plans last time (following the general outline of the appendix) and from their comments, they really have managed to develop personally meaningful, realistic and actionable plans. The first clue I had that the book has this quality was when I noticed that my wife, who is a busy business lawyer, was spending a lot of care going over it in the evenings, while preparing for a major case. So I'd conclude that it is useful for a range of readers.

Make Your Own Luck is an excellent book, with more pragmatic, useful content than I've found in most business books.

My background is in engineering and science, then business. As an engineer, I really liked that there's a "right answer." Or at least, there are clear wrong answers (the bridge will collapse if we make it out of tissue paper, period). In business, things aren't so easy. Most situations have too many factors to identify, let alone consider deeply. Shareholders interact with managers who interact with technology and customer service people and engineers and operations and ... it's tough to know how to think about all this.

Make Your Own Luck lays out a 12-step process (hmm...) for taking risks. Some of the steps sound simple: Know your big goals before you begin, so when you make bets in your life, you're betting on what you actually want. Sounds obvious? Yeah, but in my own work with executives, I've found that people easily lose sight of their real goals(1). The power from Shapiro and Stevenson's approach comes from having a rigorous checklist to consider when making risky bets.

Some of their tools help evaluate risks that I've never known how to tackle. For example, the authors give us "prediction maps," a tool for identifying low-risk, high-reward opportunities. Simple, elegant, and practically useful. Their other big new tool is "uncertainty grids." Uncertainty grids let you quickly test your plans against combinations of uncertainties to realize whether you've unconsciously anchored yourself to a single scenario, or whether your plans can survive multiple uncertain events.

Behind the tools, they slip in some subtle thinking shifts that are worth pondering in detail. In a paragraph or two, they dismiss "high rewards require high risks" and claim you don't need high risk to get high rewards. Maybe in their world, but that's not how I think. Yet I've also heard Warren Buffett say something similar, so I'm changing my beliefs around risk/reward. That said, it would have been nice if they had pulled out some of their mindset shifts and devoted more time to helping me-as-reader explore what amount to big changes in worldview.

The writing style is fun, with thought experiments between the chapters, a final chapter of scenarios to analyze using the 12 steps, and haiku or other verse at the start of each chapter. I found it a pleasant change from the overly heavy style of most substantive business books, and it was an easy read cover-to-cover that did justice to its excellent content.

I heartily recommend the book. Go check it out!

- Stever

(1) Being a professional, of course, I never, ever lose sight of my own goals. Really.

This book has a lot of potential because it covers the hot topic of how to use "predictive intelligence" (PI) to make business or personal decisions. Unfortunately, the execution falters, since both the book and the topic exist at two levels: dry material vs. attempts to explain it. Presentations about probability are inherently dry, so to liven up their discussion, authors Eileen C. Shapiro and Howard H. Stevenson use real-world examples and creative images. However, in the end, their lively metaphors dilute their information delivery. Readers will rightfully wonder what "wallpaper jujitsu," "magic thinking," "strategic rat hole zone," "bolt-on bets" and the "OOPA! Process" are all about, and the authors don't always fully explain these intriguing-sounding devices. Teaching PI is challenging, but breaking it down into a dozen components doesn't help as much as the authors might have hoped. While we find that the book presents a clear process, interesting anecdotes and good analogies, it also ends with a series of quizzes that have more than one right answer - leaving you both puzzled and intrigued. However, those are pretty good starting points for learning about odds-making and PI.

This book is a must read for anyone who is serious about improving the odds that their actions will produce the intended results.

The book has at least four things going for it:
* The authors' deep, relevant experience in business, business theory and real-world decision making.
* A practical, straightforward approach to acting in the face of uncertainty -- based on the sequential application of 12 skills and processes that, taken together, should improve anyone's "predictive intelligence."
* Stories -- lots of engaging, memorable stories that bring the process to life.
* Interactive elements that allow you to test your understanding of the material.

For me, Make Your Own Luck has been more than just another good business book. As the CEO of a start-up business, I and my associates face more than our share of uncertainty. And, given our limited resources, the consequences of bad bets can be particularly unwelcome.

We faced just such a situation a month ago when an important part of our business was underperforming. So, we turned to Make Your Own Luck and quickly realized that the source of our problems laid in steps 5 and 6 of the Gambler's Dozen, where we had relied on too much "magic" while failing to deal with an "elephant in the living room" (read the book and you will understand). Fortunately, we had a Plan B (also covered in step 6) and we are back on track.

The book's advice was direct and effective - almost as though we had Shapiro and Stevenson on our Board asking tough questions and offering possible solutions. Like I said, it is a must read.

Although in previous reviews, the word "easy" is used, the value of this book is found by taking the time to give it serious study. "Make Your Own Luck" is not a simple read with slap-your-head insight at the end of each chapter. Rather, it provides a step-by-step methodology that, if you understand and follow it, increases the odds of your success.

Even though I'm a highly productive person, prior to buying this book, my thoughts and actions related to a business plan were scattered and unproductive. Based on my anxiety, I instantly understood the value of "The Gambler's Dozen Predictive Map." This technique shows how to match goals (bets) against probability (the unknown), a process so clarifying that it inspired me to created a software application so I could easily use this technique on a wide-range of issues.

I just finished studying the concept of "risk splits." After mastering the Predictive Map, it still took a few hours to wrap my mind around what the authors were describing; not because they are unclear, but because I've never before cast my thoughts using the patterns that they suggest. What I learned is that the hardest thing about making winning business decisions is understanding the impact of the future. By employing "risk splits," I can now look back from the future to analyze today, which is a major shift in my thinking process.

I'm starting to define my "It," a task of concisely describing my business that I've put off for the past year. As I'm a writer and a programmer, describing objectives is easy for me. In this case, however, I've come to realize that the uncontrollable elements revealed in my Predictive Map increased my anxiety and scrambled my brain. In other words, without employing "magic thinking" (more commonly called "BS"), I didn't know enough about my own project to make a meaningful statement, or properly invest my time and money (called "marbles" in Luck-speak) to make it come to life.

OK, so it was the title that got me since i was not a "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" fan. My friend loaned it to me and i had HAD to check it out. Then i had to have one of my own.

What a clever, funny book that was clearly written from the heart. What a fresh directive. I could almost hear the author talking to me. I could almost "see" the people and nearly experience what was going on, the desciptions were so clear.

I think Im now a Millionaire Fan..

Now i tape all the shows to find J.E.'s show and watch it. -THANKS ALOT -

All i need to know now is.....what's next Millionaire Boy?

about writing a review for this book, Millionaire Boy/The Adventures of a Game Show Contestant, that I forgot to rate it with stars. 5 STARS! 5 STARS! 5 STARS!

Loads of fun!
A very entertaining read!

I wanted to read this book for several reasons. ONE because it was about one of my favorite tv programs, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and TWO because the author was from Montana.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly! It was well-written and very amusing.
The author has a very comfortable style. It is really like he is talking right to you. There are inner monolouges to let you know what he is thinking at key parts of the book.

This was a very visual book, because the author's descriptions of people, settings, and activities were superb!
I had read other reviews of "Millionaire Boy" and questioned if people were really laughing out loud as they claimed.
I can atest to the fact that this is a very funny book and, yes, I DID laugh out loud. SEVERAL times!
I have passed the book along to other fans of WWTBAM and they have enjoyed it as much as I did.
I too am looking forward to the author's next book.
I think he has a great future ahead of him.

Have a game show fan or a Regis Philbin fan on your gift list?
This is a book for them!
But like I said at the beginning, "Millionaire Boy" really is a book for everybody!

This book was a lot of fun and much like several of the others who have written reviews of Millionaire Boy:The Adventures of a Game Show Contestant, I found myself laughing outloud several times.

The perfect sitting by the pool book!
If you like Dave Barry, you'll appreciate the humor in this book.

Anybody know if the author has written anything else?

With all the wit of a Dave Barry read but better! Full of humor and trepidation about making a public appearance on national television. The true story of making your dreams a reality. A great book that is very difficult to read without pausing to go back and read parts out loud to who ever might be around to listen...friends, family, cats, pillows.

THIS BOOK IS AN EXCELLENT LEARNING TOOL. IT IS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT AND I AM SURE IT WILL BE READ AND EACH CHILD WILL LEARN FROM IT!

An excellent message and a good chapter book for those readers who are starting to gain confidence.

I just got this book yesterday for my son who just turned 3 years old. He really enjoyed it and after reading it, he kept asking me to read it over. He was very interested because he started asking questions at the end. He just started preschool and I wanted to introduce him to possible situations he might go through while in school. This story gives a great lesson on how to handle a situation when someone says something mean to you. My son also enjoyed it because the situation takes place in school and at a basketball court, which he can relate to because he started school and he loves to play basketball.

I was looking for a book to help my 9 year-old deal with other kids who say cruel and demeaning things. My son and I sat down and read the book together and then discussed how saying "so" when mean things are said takes away the bullies power. We decided that "so" was his new secret weapon.

My son was so excited when the very next day at school he used his secret weapon and it worked. He has also shared the book with a few of his classmates and it has helped them too.

GREAT BOOK!

The Meanest Thing To Say is not about saying mean things back to mean people. And it isn't even about mean people. What it IS about is children learning self-control, level-headedness and heart. When the new kid, Michael, calls Little Bill names, and says he has to think of the meanest things to say back the next day, Bill is frustrated and anxious. This comes up at home and his dad tells him to just say, "So?" to everything. Little Bill does this and it halts Michael. It takes two people to fight. But the moral of the story doesn't stop here. Bill observes Michael is a new student and maybe just needs a friend. So he invites him to play basketball with him and they become friends.

Unfortunately it is reality that children can be very mean and hurtful. As parents, we need to teach our children how to handle bullies and it's equally as important to teach them not to BE a bully. Also, just ignoring mean actions and words doesn't always work. Everyone has good in them and we all, ages 2-102 need to offer kindness instead of anger. Great job, Cosby! Thank you and please keep writing. Peace & Soar!o8E

Since I was about 11 years old I always played the queens gambit (I am 23 years old now but took a 2 year break from chess). I was always a strong youth player that never really had chess coaches to teach openings , but I was always though in competition .

Most of my QGD knowledge is from rueben fine's book ideas behind the chess openings. I was fine with that because I could just play the opening getting nice positions with plans and I could spend the saved time on sharper systems with black!). I wil now give my argumentations why it is great to have studied and read this book.

1. QGD has the ideas of all QP opening in it (Sadler) so you will really benefit even if you wil play the slav or QGA later on
2. It is more based on understanding (where to put your pieces, pawn structure psycholigical factors, move orders) so you will actually learn more about chess (themes like hanging pawn, minority attack isolated pawn kingside attack are all there!!)
The question and answer format really helps with this, especially people like me who dont't work much with coaches and stronger players. ( NB sadler uses a question and answer format to explain the ideas)
3. A lot of white players play it because it is safe, playing and knowing it with black gives good chances to equalize in the opening!
4. The quality of the book is great, I found only one move pair left out in game 48 that was all. The diagrams and games are very good.

some disadvantages:

1. only Be7 (no cambridge springs etc)
2. Capablanca - Alekhine match is not really mentioned
3. A bit slow sometimes, if you are new to the opening you can get bored (very subtle games, many draws etc..)

Anyway for my it is one of the greatest chess books I have read, and i will reread it in the future.

About the required audience level, great for club players/ even youth players I think, stronger players (candidate masters etc) will need more and sharper stuff i guess and will already know most of it. I am rated about 1900 but i think 1400-2100 rating level can benefit the most.

bravo sadler !

I recently purchased Sadler's QGD book because Silman had recommended this line as a solid, easy to learn response to d4 and I wanted a deeper understanding than what Silman provided in his short article(available on his web site). My initial reaction to Sadler's book is simple, "Why don't chess publishers REQUIRE all opening books be written like this?" QGD uses the typical complete game method found in most opening books. What sets it apart is the Socratic method Q and A that explains just about everything about the lines discussed. I believe that far too many opening books expect you to know a lot about the line before you begin the book, this book does not make that fatal error. In short, this book can TEACH you the lines it covers. My understanding is growing daily. Hats off to Mr. Sadler. Now let's urge publishers to follow his format with all their opening books.

First please note: I'm not an advanced player. My online rating is around 1400. I'm not in the USCF. I rarely study with a board. I just like chess and want to get a little better, without allowing it to become an obsession. It is not my life, so I won't ever become great at it.
My parents taught me chess when I was little and they taught me QGD. I have always known it a bit, and continually try to learn more about it and QGA.
Now to the review:
I bought this book about three years ago and now rarely refer to it. I have since gathered other instructive texts that are more appropriate to my level, and which I find easier to read.

I want to like this book, but find that it is not for someone like myself who merely wants to read about openings and look for the dumb moves to avoid. You really have to study this book. You should set up a board or even two or three.

The author continually starts reviewing/examining a game, then spends a lot of time on what happened in another game, or what might happen [on a long side-line] if a player did a specific move. This is great for those of you at that high rating level.

As someone who rarely uses a board with a book and who reads the book, I found the diagrams not so useful in this book, because so amny of them relate to the side-line, not the game that is actually being analyzed. I got confuded sometimes; I couldn't match a diagram with the game that was being discussed in nearby text.

Others have pointed out how not all lines are covered, and a few other things. I just wanted to point out that this book is not an intro to QGD, but is a more advanced book.
It's not for everyone, but for some of you it may be the thing to get you even higher on the food chain, I mean ratings chart. :-)
It's not the right book for me; it could be for you. be sure to consider your rating and study habits before buying it.

This book deals mainly with 4...Be7 systems, with chapters on the Lasker, Orthodox systems, Tartakover, Exchange, Bxf6 systems, and the 5.Bf4 variation. All 110 games in these chapters are complete. The notes are relevant and a joy to read, with complete sentences to explain the moves or alternate moves in question, unlike those in pretentious books that try to be exhaustive by giving too many irrelevant variations, and are just tedious and boring. The last chapter, "Queen's Gambit Declined: `General Knowledge'", is four pages long and has two classical traps and a paragraph for each of four alternatives to 4...Be7: Bb4, Nbd7, c5, and dxc4. If you want a QGD book that delves deeper into some of these variations in addition to 4...Be7, check out Bogdan Lalic's "Queen's Gambit Declined: Bg5 Systems", also from Everyman and runner-up for the British Chess Federation's Book of the Year award, the award "Queen's Gambit Declined" got in 2000. If you want a book on the Tarrasch, look at Jacob Aagaard's "Meeting 1 d4".

But missing those lines is not a problem, because the author aims to give the reader a general understanding of the opening, not a complete repertoire. To this end, Sadler uses several examples from other queen pawn openings (like Semi-Slav, QGA, Nimzo-Indian) which are not digressions, but very relevant because after all, "(t)he QGD is the original queen's pawn opening; modern systems such as the Slav and Semi-Slav or the QGA have developed by taking features from the QGD and accelerating them..." (Sadler).

Sadler uses a wonderful Q&A format to explain the ideas of the QGD. These questions and answers give the reader a more solid understanding of the opening based on general strategy, which is something missing in most chess books.

"QGD" gives advice to both sides on how to transpose into the QGD. For example, 3 Nf3 avoids the Nimzo-Indian, 1 c4 avoids the QGA, and then 1...e6! can transpose into the QGD. This flexibility makes knowing the line good for both Black and White players.

Don't let the fact that Sadler deals mainly with 4...Be7 discourage you from buying this book. You will find after reading it that 4...Be7 can be much more solid than the alternatives, and that your game against other queen pawn openings will improve.

Hi, Sadlers book revolves around systems that play Be7. You should know this before purchasing the book. That said, it is top notch work again by Sadler. The question and answer format is a pearl unto itself, found only in Sadler's books. The format is intelligent. To play an opening correctly you "should" know the mainline as well as any possible traps. Sadler scores well here, detailing both. His personal comments at the end of each chapter reflect his likes & dislikes of the presented mainline. All in all, if your wanting to know the Be7 systems inside and out, I can fully recomend this book. On the downside, like all books from Everyman press, they are without algebraic notation. In my mind this hinders any chess book from becoming more that it is. Multiple systems are given in each chapter, concerning your opponets move orders. Sadler does make it clear that move orders are very important, stating that you must know them. examples are given for each and evey case.