Games Books

Ok, endgame books are mostly raw facts and calculation. Accuracy is more important than writing ability. If you purchased this book, there is no doubt what you expected to take from it.

When I found the first typo on the first page of chapter one I thought I made a bad purchase. I don't care about excuses...poor editing, hard to translate from German, or anything else.

As I continued to read I found the book to be better than I had expected. Once I got used to the codes and symbols, the book was very enjoyable. The exercises were outstanding. They hammered home the critical ideas without wasting your time on exercises that would never occur in an actual game. And yes the book was very accurate. I learned a few new ways to quickly evaluate complex positions. The order of the exercises was perfect. Each exercise built on the previous exercises as they flowed smoothly through the book. You can not spend too much time with a book like this.

After living and playing in Germany for the past two years I am amazed at the strength of German players and their passion for the game. They are absolutely crazy about chess. I find chess everywhere I go in this country. These two authors are a direct reflection of chess in Germany today. I will look for more of their books.

This is a rather difficult book for us, C-players, to follow. The positions have only two types of pieces, Kings and Pawns. In order to win, some Ps must reach the 6th or 7th to demonstrate to us that game is decided. The King- and Pawn-moves are single squares; therefore to achieve this goal the game must take many moves. This makes the variations of many (sometimes dozen of) moves deep. Unless we have the visual ability like the masters or grandmasters do, we need a chessboard or program to follow the moves incrementally. To study and understand these deep analyses, the authors recommend us, average players, to use chessboard and play them through. I think this is good for even masters and GMs. For us, amateurs, with 10 percent of its knowledge we could hold ground fairly against our opponents. I need at least one year or so to go through all the details the book provides.
I just caught three major mistakes that I wrongly believed all these years.
1) Two isolated P's separated by 1 file against a King are an automatic win. Wrong.
2) Two connected passed P's with the rear P blocked by enemy lone P is an automatic win. Wrong.
3) In pawn ending with two P's each, the outside passed P wins always. Wrong.
Above are three of many simple rules I often aim for when reaching the pure P endings.
Diagrams 8.01D, 4.07 and 3.12 from this book debunks my beliefs. What is missing with my simple rules? The King-position. In the pure pawn endings, the K-position is the single most important factor. The list on the Crash Course page is very helpful. There are about 40 different themes. So far I could recognize and understand 3 or 4 of them, but not 100% certainty, unless I have to carefully and quietly study the book.
This book is worth 5 stars. Hope I could use what it offers in real games. At C-class, our games are often over during the middle-games by blunders. The fewer pieces on our endgames are, the stronger (or more equal) are we. Good luck to all.

Unfortunately, explanations of pawn endings tend to be more mystifying than helpful to players of average talent (like me). Even single pawn endgames can seem so puzzling. However, with a little work even average players can understand this book. I suspect it would be helpful to unusually talented and experienced players as well.

I feel that for most player's purposes this book is a little better than Averbach's book, but it's most fun to have them both and compare their explanations. Averbach's book spends far more time on the theory of corresponding squares, while this book is more practical. In short, don't despair if you can't find Averbach's book; this one is very good.

If you've read a basic introduction to the endgame, and want to go deeper, this is the next step. All other endgames constantly threaten to reduce to pawn endgames, so these are fundamental concepts. As it says on the back cover, "Without an understanding of [pawn endings] it is impossible to master more complicated endings." That is absolutely true.

Many players will feel that pawn endgames are boring, but in reality they can be very beautiful. If you learn to enjoy them, then your enjoyment of the entire game of chess will increase.

This book starts with the basic concepts of King and Pawn against King, gives a thorough tour of the situations arising with progressively more pawns, and ends with general advice about finding plans in complicated situations. The whole exposition is given in clear, logical prose supported by valuable and well-diagrammed game analyses and exercises. The authors do not shirk giving clear explanations of the basics, while there is enough advanced material to give food for thought, I suspect, to much stronger players. In short I was delighted with this book, and strongly recommend it.

I'm a class C player interested in seriously improving my game. My first endgame book was by Yasser Seirawan, Winning Chess Endings. I didn't really get enough out of the book's section on pawn endings. Due to this I decided to purchase this boook and I was amazed at what I could learn and how quickly. I believe this is the easiest to understand book on any aspect of chess theory I have ever read.

To get the most out of this book I highly recommend playing through the positions against a strong chess engine (Fritz, for example). Evaluate the test positions in your head and if you get any incorrect play through the positions against the engine.

I rarely reach endgames in my play, but I'm sure that I am able to correctly evaluate if I should trade off into an ending or not when I am faced with the choice.

I have bought many books here but have never submitted a review. For this book I have to say its one of my best buy. 5 stars!!

This book begins with the very basics, how the board is set up, how the pieces move, the basic rules. The book then progresses at a steady pace introducing strategy and tactical tools. The book goes further than just explaining principles, and offers "chessercizes" at the end of each section to ensure the reader fully grasps each concept before moving on. I have read several chess books and browsed many more and this is hands down the best one. If you play chess or want to learn, you must read this book.

This is an excellent book for beginners that does more than just teach the basics. It teaches skills needed for any level of play.

I am a very visual learner. Apparently, so are Russian children. This book is written in the manner that Russian children are taught: a chessboard is laid down, pieces placed, and a question posed, say, checkmate in two. Your job is to figure out how to get there. In the book, the first half is composed of pages of such diagrams, each geared towards either explaining visually how a piece moves, its value in trade, its best positions, etc. It is a great way to learn the game.
The book starts off slowly, explaining how the game works. You then work through various parts of the game: openings, middle moves, and closings. This game really helped me to develop a solid opening.
I have always had trouble with the middle game; this book gives the basics for that. The second volume gives a much more in-depth treatment of the game; openings, closings, and middle game strategy. But this is the book to get for a new player, or for one who always seems to get beaten. I started out losing to the computer on its easiest level, now I still lose, but at least I understand why, heh heh. Seriously, it is written in an understandable manner, and if you're a visual learner, the problem sets are really worthwhile.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

This is one excellent Beginner book; it is unique and very informative. The first 102 pages have a lot of basic fundamental information ALL beginners should learn. Pages 103 to 264 of the book are devoted to Tactics & Strategy theory of The Opening, Middlegame and Endgame-this is the meat of the book. Lev mixes games, theory and teaching diagrams artfully. The diagrams are clear; most ask you a question or two with the answers right there, no flipping pages to the back of the book to hunt for answers. Many answers are very detailed. This is a great study book for beginners. Reading it once is not enough. Good Luck.

An excellent book that shows how important it is to adjust one's negotiating strategy to fit the situation. Unlike so many other books on negotiation which offer a cookie cutter approach, Watkins does a superb job in helping you develop strategies that will work in just about any situation.
A great companion to the book "Bargaining for Advantage" by Shell.

Michael Watkins , author of 2003's classic "The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels" has followed it up nicely with "Shaping the Game: The New Leader's Guide to Effective Negotiating." Whereas the earlier book was a step-by-step guide to what a new leader needed to accomplish, the latest book focuses on how negotiation skills can play a key role in successful transitions.

Watkins, an expert in leadership transitions and in negotiation, has come to believe that, "...effective leaders negotiate their way to success in their new roles." This book is meant to help ensure success in that endeavor.

Watkins sees four objectives for negotiations during career transitions:

1. Create value for both the new leader and for the organization.
2. Ensure that the new leader captures a fair share of that value.
3. Build and sustain relationships by the way the negotiations are conducted.
4. Enhance the new leader's reputation as a tough, creative and trustworthy individual.

His framework for negotiation likewise contains four elements:

1. Matching negotiating strategy to the reality of the situation. No more one-size-fits-all negotiation strategies.
2. Planning to learn and influence.
3. Shaping the game - strategies to change the negotiation game to better suit your strengths.
4. Organizing to improve your skills as a negotiator, and those of your organization.

I like the way Watkins has organized the book. He provides plenty of clear, visual models of the negotiation process. Each chapter is concluded with a checklist that summarizes the key things to watch for when negotiating. The book is a fast read, and it will be easy to find what I need to help in specific situations later.

If you are entertaining several options for future employment, or entering a new position, consider using two books as guides. First, use George Bradt's The New Leaders 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build Your Team, and Get Immediate Results as the most practical step by step guide to early success in the new role. And use Watkins book to help you understand how to do some of the tougher steps in Bradt's book.

If you have any need to negotiate in your current role (and all of us do), pick up Watkins book to help you improve your ability to create and capture value. His stuff will work whether or not you are a new leader.

This provides a nice clear layout of the ideas behind successful negotiations. It's helpful to think clearly about the values and motivations of all the 'players' in the process. Great book and easy but thoughtful read.

This excellent guide to negotiation is concise, highly readable and eminently practical. Author Michael Watkins simply and clearly outlines the essentials every negotiator must know. More importantly, he situates negotiation where it belongs - at the very center of every leader's required set of skills. He duly notes that negotiations differ in many ways, and that a negotiator needs to adapt a strategic approach to each situation and context. Where appropriate, he draws on the work of other writers about negotiation, sometimes correcting their broad generalizations and oversimplifications. He illustrates his advice about negotiation with the story of Paul, an executive whose career exposes him to various negotiating situations requiring a range of skills. This tactic could be hackneyed or hokey, but in Watkin's hands, it works well. We highly recommend this book as an excellent tool for honing your negotiation and leadership skills.

In "Shaping the Game: The New Leader's Guide to Effective Negotiating", Michael Watkins came up with a high quality book on critical skills required for successful negotiations. The author wrote an interesting and insightful book on achieving effective negotiations. Negotiation involves getting people who both have common and conflicting goals to be able to present and discuss issues and reach an agreement acceptable to all parties.

This is a very useful book that presents the negotiation process methodically, which helps the reader to follow and understand the process. The ideas you learn from the book are very helpful in any negotiating situation, whether one is interviewing for a job, buying a car, leasing a house, making a sell or negotiating between managers and workers for salary increase and conditions of service or a major contract.

This is an excellent book that is essential reading for all managers who need to learn the techniques, strategies and practices of effective negotiations. The author reinforces his well presented arguments, proposals and solutions with an interesting story of Paul whose duties require him to be involved in various challenging negotiating scenarios that should assist readers in reinforcing the concepts that they would have learnt.

Jeff Grubb is the best author in the Magic the Gathering Universe! The Brothers war and this series are so awesome! He really did a wonderfully spectacular job at finishing this series up. congrats should go to him. Needless to say if you liked the other 2 in the series you need this one as well.

This series is a great read. If you like MTG books in general, this one will not disappoint.

Man, what a trilogy. Once I started the Gathering Dark, a week later I had finished the entire cycle. This book was great and wrapped everything up quite nicely. The ending sets up the next book as well and makes me want to keep reading the Magic novels.

this was a good book to say the least. while i did not like loosing sima from the dark, jaya was a nice replacement. mr. grubb did not do a very good job on who lim-dul was possessing. =D this book though had one of the best duels i have ever read. lots of detail in the mental mansion idea, the mental mansion idea was one of my favorite idea's in magic. this book though, had a good balance of going to the different parts of the world. going back to tresserhorn to express the darkness, the part of the world that is still frozen. going to the school of the unseen, to show the development of the world, the foremost place of magic development. going to soldev (i think) to show the artifact reliant people. it worked out well. i think the best part in the book, by far is the jodah- lim dul fight. the giant jaya, kinda wierd, but okay. whats nice is that lim dul knew about jodahs mirror, made a strategy around it. im done.
go forth, wreak havoc

This was surely the best book since the Gathering Dark. I loved the end and how they rapped up Jodah's life and how they concluded the Ice Age. It was an amazing book that I will never forget. All three books have been the best books I've ever read, and I can assure you that I've read MANY books.

Really good. I bought this after I beat the game. And used it to find all the "Side Events" and extras. Its good for people that want or need help during the game and for people that want to find the extras etc. One cool thing is that in the back you can see ALL the characters in Shenmue and it has a little description on them. So its good. Very good walkthrough book. Definately worth the money.

This is a great strategy guidebook for SHENMUE. It really covers a lot of information in the game. I've already played SHENMUE all the way through and I thought i had covered everything in the game. Wrong! There is a lot that I misssed! There were things in the game that you could get that I just didn't know about. For instance you can win a couple of Sega Saturn games as prizes for Ryo's Saturn at his house!

I recommend you to read this book after you've already gone through SHENMUE at least once. You'll be suprised at how much you may have missed. It may even make SHENMUE even more rewarding the second time around.

If you loved SHENMUE as much as I did, then this book is a must have!

This one is one of Prima's top guides. It is very well put together and it did exactly what I buy guides for: To help me when I am really really stuck.

The amount of information in this book really is staggering. There are individual profiles for just about every character in the game, right down to their blood type!

But what really makes this guide great is the vast amount of extras! From strategies for the arcade games, to a complete list of the mini-collectibles, this guide is loaded. It also includes a very clever "sealed section" which I greatly appreciated.

The bottom line is that if you like Shenmue, this is the ultimate companion

I've had a lot of issues with Prima not delivering a guide with all the info that it could of had. Prima's guides frequently do not deliver all but the bare essentials and can be poorly put together, but the Shenmue Official Strategy Guide does not follow tradition. From start to finish, the guide is absolutely packed full of information regarding the game and solutions to the many puzzles within it. Full, complete, well designed color pages document each event as it should happen with exact date, time and location, along with full color screen shots. It also includes complete index's of all the bonus items you can collect throughout the game and where to obtain them, as well as a full index of all note-entrys that can be imputted into Ryo's journal. As well, it features complete biographys taken from Shenmue Online, that include virtually every single individual you see in the game, regardless of weither you're ever able to interact with them or not. This is not a guide to pass up, and even if you're not one for cheating, it's virtually impossible to see all there is to see in Shenmue without this kind of a guide. A must have.

this game has a five star graphics, gameplay, and plotline. the graphics are like real people. the fighting scenes are great. in this game you can go to an arcade and play those games!! the plot is great and if fun to go to the city and get info and find all this stuff about the murder of ryo's father's death! this is a must bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please note that the five stars are for the content of the strategy guide only because, regardless of what people have to say on the subject, this strategy guide isn't needed as you wander the misty realms of Silent Hill in search of Mary and that "special place" you long to return to. In fact, it is simply a way to slight yourself and the gaming experience that you've no doubt gone out of your way to acquire. This isn't to say that it isn't useful if you feel hard-pressed and left without options and it also isn't meant to imply that it doesn't include everything one needs to take a walk through James Sutherland's life. In fact, this is quite the contrary, saying that everything is here. I've compared its content to that I've found elsewhere after I used it on my third run through the Hill and it was it was quite inclusive. That, however, is the problem if your only wanting a casual playing experience, because once you've done something you've done it and you can't repeat it. Reading a "how to" isn't always the best way to find out these little tidbits of gameplay.

Instead, one needs only to take their time and look around in their first outing, remembering that something is potentially an item or a place to go and that ever scrap of paper is a clue. It also should be taken into account that searching is needed, and that all enemies are defeatable, and that there are multiple endings based on time used, difficulty, on the items found, and the number of beasts killed. Since this takes multiple tries anyhow, one can find these out without the use of a visual aid.

Unless you like to spend hours, months even years in Silent Hill, get this book. It has everything you need to know with out giving away all the games secrets. I would have been still playing the game trying to figure out how to open the Safe or the Trick-or-Treat box without this book. It also explores alittle of the games creator's dark sick mind, a must.

The title of the review says it all. this is an awesome strategy guide. The book holds your hand and walks you through the entire game. It even tells you what all the endings are and how to get them all. There are no spoilers here. The maps are great and there are full items lists. Buy this book. You can't go wrong.

Thank goodness I had the Strategy Guide for Silent Hill, otherwise I would still be wandering around the foggy streets or some nasty, decaying hotel without a clue.

This isn't a review just a little tip. The book is great for the right system just make sure you have the right book. The Silent Hill 2: RestLess Dreams (Brown Cover)Guide is for X-Box and The Silent Hill 2 (Green Cover)guide is for Playstation 2. I Found out as soon I bought it that I had the book for X-Box. So to save someone else the trouble of getting the wrong book I decided to write it in a review. Whats the difference you ask well Restless dreams is written with the controls for X-Box in mind and there is a version in (Restless Dreams)that shows you how to control another character. So The green cover version has the controls for Playstation in mind. Hope this was helpful for anyone else who was thinking about buying the book but didn't know what the difference was.

The Pokemon Sinnoh Handbook was released to give information about the Pokemon that are part of Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl. The first page of the book explains why the book was written. The second page explains what the reader will find on the page for each Pokemon (the Pokemon's name, what species it is, a pronunciation guide for the Pokemon's name, its possible moves, what Pokemon type it is, its height and weight, its evolution chain, and interesting facts about the Pokemon. Five Pokemon (Abra, Blissey, Cleffa, Golduck, and Seaking) also have a special "Remember When..." box included in their entries for trivia from the TV series. There is also an introduction to the Sinnoh region, which explains how a trainer starts out in the region.

After all of the pages about the Pokemon, there is an appendix titled, "Ash & Friends," which gives brief biographies for Ash, Brock, and Dawn; included on each trainer's page are pictures of which Pokemon they have. At the very back of the book is a fold-out poster with all the Pokemon featured in the book.

I did find a couple of errors in the book. Blissey's height is included, but the weight was left off. Also, Cherubi's Solarbeam attack is listed twice under its possible moves.

From the design of the book, as well as the way the book is written, it's obvious that children are the target audience. However, there is valuable information included, so adults shouldn't shy away from purchasing the Pokemon Sinnoh Handbook.

My 8 year old loves this book. It has all his favorite characters, the pictures are big and detailed so he enjoys drawing them on paper as well. A+

My 7 y.o. daughter caught the Pokemon craze from her 15 y.o. brother who has loved those pocket monsters since he was very little. This book was read cover to cover within the first day and it is taken along on doctor visits & car trips to pass the time - great selection!

Meant as a Christmas gift, this book was intercepted by my two boys, who absolutely loved the artwork and creature descriptions.

Well worthwhile for any Pokemon fan.

I ordered this book for my 6-year-old son who is really into Pokemon at the moment. He absolutely loves this book.

The book features many of the most popular Pokemon, gives a brief summary of their abilities and even states their height, weight and possible moves.

What's best about this book for me as a mother is that my son, a first-grader, practices his reading without me asking him too, because he is so fascinated by all the informative stats about all his favorite Pokemon. And the book does actually use some big words that he would not encounter in the typical first-grader reading books.

I can recommend this book to any Pokemon fan or parent thereof!

I am completely in awe of the power this book has to improve your golf game and make it FUN. You won't learn any mechanics here; but the combination of emotional, mental and course management is magic. It also happens to be simple - no "practice" time involved. Just think about what Dede (sadly, now deceased) and Dan propose. Read the first chapter this morning, play better and have more fun this afternoon. Really. I wish I could give this book to all my golfing friends who love the game.

By applying the principles covered in this book you will take your golf game to the next level. Assuming you know how to execute various golf shots, playing smart golf means getting your mind into the game in a positive way to enable your abilities to shine through. Not only will you shoot lower your scores, but you will increase your enjoyment of the game. Brilliantly written in a clear, concise manner. Get this book, that is, unless you happen to be one of my match-play opponents!

Before I even finished the first chapter I knew this technique was going to work. The first chapter alone is worth the cover price. I was able to apply the techniques immediately, take it to the course and the results just had me doing double-takes. It's that effective. In barely of month having half-read this book I've already taken 8 strokes off my avg game, setting or tying new personal bests each time out.

Before I read this book I was the typical golf course hot-head, maybe a little worse than typical. I would spend half the round fuming over one poor shot or another, which of course led to others, which in turn mad me even angrier. Before I knew it I would be out-scoring the Lakers. Those days are gone. People hardly recognize me now because the program laid out in this book gives you constructive, positive factors to think about. You just don't have the time or inclination to worry about one bad shot because you now have a much better idea of what is happening to you and how you can combat it. It's a wonderful book. It does for the mental game what Ben Hogan's 5 Lessons does for the swing.

-ep

The authors present a simple, logical, easy to understand approach to the mental side of golf. Following their guidelines enables the golfer to focus on his/her successes--as opposed to dwelling on the miss-hits. Positive feedback encourages relaxation and a feeling of self worth--and lower scores follow.

This is definitely one of the best of the many books on the mental approach to golf. There is no zen mumbo-jumbo here. This book presents a very straightforward technique in a very straightforward style. There is far more "meat" to this book than to the run-of-the-mill books on the mental approach, which tend to be long on generalities and platitudes. I enjoyed the part where they take you through the actual playing of a round -- their recommendations are more conservative than would have occurred to me in my most conservative moments on the course. Their technique of rating yourself in various categories on a hole-by-hole basis gets a little too involved for me, but it would be a great help if you were willing to stick with it. Even though I haven't adopted the technique, I have benefitted from reading and re-reading the book and applying the principles. DeDe Owens was a true teacher, and her recent death was a great loss.

Very detailed, but lacks: Walker info & stats; TIE info & stats; Sandtrooper info & stats; Timeline; Details of smaller Imperial ships; Costs for Imperial ships & equipment (sometimes useful).

Excellent book but leaves out info on ships like Imperial Frigate and Corvettes that the Imperials used also along with the ships in the book. They also could have put in a better rank insignias system in the book showing the ranks but otherwise Really Good.

It is very detailed but lacks several key points such as stats for TIE's and imperial walkers. Weapon ammo would be nice. Good starship section

This book is best used in conjunction with the Rebel Handbook and the Star Wars Sourcebook. Between the three of them most information is covered. (maybe this one DOESN'T cover TIE stats, but there's a nice chart in the Sourcebook that has all the different starcraft lined up.) Good flavor. Excellent illustrations, in words and in pictures. I recommend this book the the serious Star Wars fan.

This book is great. It was definetly mad efor the star wars fan. The problem is its out of print :( I got my copy ,after finding it listed here,in a large book store under roleplaying.It not just for roleplaying though.So go get it if you the avid fan or just the average day fan.If you like the Empire youll love this book.Statsd on TIES or not.

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.