Puzzles Books

I have two grandsons 5 & 7. They love to share the I Spy books and see who gets the most answers.

Careful with the purchase of this book. It is an excellent "I Spy" in the series. However, the inside pages are the same as another; only the front cover is different. If you're adding to a collection be sure to view inside pages.

The I Spy books are a play on the children's game of "I Spy" a game I played often during long car trips except that each book is themed. I Spy Mystery centers around buried treasure, a sunken ship and some other shenanigans. Most of the items photographed are miniatures and toys though what is often being sought in the riddles isn't as obvious as the photograph would first imply. The photographs themselves are deceptively simplistic. A photograph of a green house would appear to be nothing but flowers but may in fact hide things like anchors or race cars.

I Spy Mystery seems to be a tougher book than I Spy Spooky Night. I've read the book now twice and still haven't found all the mentioned items!

Fantastic! My 6 and 3 year olds really enjoy these books. My husband and my self find it very educational and fun for family time.

This has provided hours of fun for one and sometimes several kids all at once. I love the series.

Cat Hulbert is not only a great poker player, she is also a great writer. Her timeless book is not so much about how to play poker, though important technical issues do get their fair share of ink, rather it concerns itself more with how to be a winning poker player. Cat's shrewd and witty lessons apply to many areas of life in and out of card playing, including business and leadership, because she covers topics like image, self confidence, and thinking things through without wallowing in emotions.

I'm an experienced and successful amateur poker player, as well as an avid reader. I normally read very quickly but I chewed slowly on this fascinating smorgasbord of poker wisdom until I had thoroughly digested each appetizing morsel and lingered over the savory aftertaste.

This is one entertaining and valuable book I would definitely add to my short list of "if you were marooned on a desert island forever" favorites!

Eric Random, Founder
Random Factory
Independent Critical Thinking
RandomVisits@yahoo.com

Too bad there aren't more stars to give then "just" 5, because this book deserves every single one of them. I was captured from the first page, couldn't stop reading it, so now I'm about to re-read it. It's hard to count things that are great about this book, because there are so many of them but I might as well give it a try. First of all, Cat seems like an incredible woman with amazing life story and the best thing is that she presents it in a really wise and funny way. Each chapter made me wish she was a good friend of mine. In this book you'll find pretty much everything concerning poker and being a girl playing "boys game" - making yourself feel beautiful about yourself, having confidence when entering a cardroom, protecting your winnings (paying attention if anyone is following you) and a lot more. Anyway, I am thrilled with this book and can honestly recommend it, even guaranteeing you will love it!

I am a student of Cat's and this book has captured not only her knowledge when it comes to poker but also her great sense of humor. This isn't a book to teach you how to play but one that will help you with some winning methods that the boys have no clue about. An easy read because of the smaller sections and infusion of tips and humor!

As a poker player for over 30 years, I know many of the tips Cat gives us in her book, but I had to learn them the hard way. She spells them out in an entertaining, easy to read manner. The only good thing is most people probably won't incorporate these valuable nuggets into their play; most will forget all the good advice when they get into the heat of battle, at least I hope so.

I purchased this book a couple of weeks ago and all I can say is "Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Cat Hulbert". I have learned some very valuable tips from you, some I would have had to learn the hard way and some I've already learned the hard way, too. Thank you for sharing your experiences and giving away some of your tips! I've been playing poker for about 18 months and your book came to me at the right time. This book is a refreshing change from the standard poker strategy books on the market. I've applied some of the suggestions and they've already helped me in poker and in life.

I first saw Cat Hulbert on a Travel Channel special about Las Vegas, poker, and gambling. The show featured her Poker 4 Girls classes and Cat offered some valuable tips about how women approach gambling. I've been a fan ever since and I gleaned some self-awareness about my own poker playing behavior from that episode that helped me change my game play. I highly recommend this book for any woman that wants to improve her poker playing skills.

First of all, this book is excellent, and it's 27 years old.

I am wondering if there is someone who will write a universal solution book to let a player achieve any possible specific pattern from any possible pattern. Ex., let every square of every facet marked with digits 1-9 while the Rubik's cube at the pattern of all squares of the same color on a facet, and then, scramble it several times randomly, note the pattern, scramble it several times randomly, try to let the cube be back to the pattern noted.

Or, there maybe someone who has made, or will make computer programs to show how to achieve any possible specific pattern from any possible pattern.

I bought this back in '81 when I was a freshman in high school. I spent about four hours a night for a week memorizing the patterns and here it is in 2008 and I can still solve the cube in about 50-60 seconds (my personal best is 42 seconds). I keep a cube in my office and amaze co-workers.

My neighbor's kid has discovered the cube and wants to know how I learned it, so I naturally came to Amazon and looked...sure enough, this book is available. I've only read one other Rubik's book (I forget the name) and this was 10X easier than the first book I read. Since all the patterns in the book seem to flow in symetrical patterns, I found this to be very easy to master. The author even offers reverse patterns to save you steps (e.g. when orienting the bottom corners, you either run through pattern "A" (for example) twice to orient them, or run the reverse of it (call it "B") once to finish the corners. If I could memorize the colors and their relationship to the others, I could probably solve it in 40 seconds everytime. It seems I spent more time figuring which colors to solve than doing the actual moves. In fact, I can look at the cube and put it behind my back and run a move, look again, run another move behind my back and solve it that way. If you play guitar, then it's basically the same thing...after awhile, you just know what to do by only glancing at it.

I highly recommend this book. I still have mine...27 years later!

This is an easy solution but will not solve it fast. You will probably get it done in about 3-5 minutes. I have used Jeff Conquers the Cube in 45 seconds and Minh Thai's The Winning Solution in the 80's. I used to average 38 seconds with a best time of 23 seconds using the Jeff Conquers the Cube method.

I just got the Jeff Conquers the Cube book again and after about a month average just under a minute and have a best time of 38 seconds.

I originally owned a copy of this book years ago and easily learned and memorized the steps to solve "the cube" using the guidance provided. I can't say that I recall my personal best time on solving the puzzle; but the patterns were easy enough to memorize that I could find the solution while talking to friends or walking down the street. Considering all the possible moves, I think that's it's impressive that the book is simple enough to memorize those solutions. My original must have found it's way into a garage sale years ago, so I purchased a recent copy and a new cube. If my brain can still understand it at my age, anybody can use this book to solve this frustrating little puzzle and maybe even actually impress their spouse or, amazingly, their children! I see that other reviews that say there are solutions requiring fewer moves and I have no reason to question that. All I can say is that the solutions provided in this book are easy to understand and that they work!

Superb book - short and to the point. The explanations are clear and simple. Nourse even provides expert variations for when you get the hang of his solution. WARNING - it's virtually impossible to find this book in most brick-and-mortar book stores (nowadays puzzle and game shelves are filled mainly with books on sudoku or poker), so buy this book ONLINE if you get a chance. You might never find another copy!

This is an excellent book to read to young children. The author gives the reader indepth information about her family but also some historical information about her hometown, Harlem. The illustrations sweep the reader along on Tar Beach and keeps you turning the brightly colored pages. You are able to hear Ms.Ringgold's voice when you read this book and get a taste of life in her family.

I don't know why this book was called Tar Beach, but it's interesting. It's about a little girl who is picked up by the stars and has the ability to own everything she flies over. Pretty cool huh? Whether she can actually do this or she just dreams of doing this, who knows.

A neat feature of this book is it was actually written and illustrated first on a quilt before being converted to paper. Maybe next somebody will try writing a book on a sculpture.

An excellent book for its literay value and artistic illustrations. A great memory for anyone who has lived in New york City and remembers going to their own rooftop gatherings in the summers.

My class loved this book. It was part of an African American History unit.

First off, this book would pair brilliantly with Deborah Hopkinson's, "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt". Utilizing a style not unlike the classic slave quilts featured in "Sweet Clara", "Tar Beach" tells a contemporary story while tying its narrative to the history of African American storytelling. Before I say anything else, though, I should warn you about something. When I first read this book I had borrowed it from my local lending library. The copy I got out was a hardcover from 1991. Now, do you remember getting books when you were a kid and they, not to put too fine a point on it, stank? Certain picture books have some kind of binding glue or something that, over time, makes them stink to high heaven. This book was especially smelly and even as it sits next to me here on my desk I'm reluctant to open it up for reference because of its offensive odor. It's quite possible, even probable, that the editions of this book being sold now (being paperback and all) are smell free and no longer printed so as to attack one's olfactory senses. Just don't buy a used hardcover copy from 1991. That's all I'm saying.

In this tale a small African-American girl dreams of flight. In her flight she is powerful and free. The George Washington bridge, a magnificent structure that her father helped to build, is a diamond necklace around her neck. Flying high, the girl gives her father the union building he's working on, "Then it won't matter that he's not in their old union, or whether he's colored or a half-breed Indian, like they say". With her father so gainfully employed her mother "won't cry all winter" when her dad goes out looking for work. She'll be able to sleep late and (this is the most heartbreaking part for me), "we can have ice cream every night for dessert". The girl daydreams these flights while the family goes up to what they like to call Tar Beach. On the roof of their building they have peanuts and chicken and watermelon as well. She sums up by explaining, "it's very easy, anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go that you can't get to any other way. The next thing you know, you're flying among the stars".

On the last two pages of the book a long history of author/illustrator Faith Ringgold explains her life, the history of her work, the history of African Americans in the 1930s, and the basis of this tale. A quilter by trade, the left page displays the amazing quilt that inspired "Tar Beach" the book. In this quilt, the girl and her brother sit not too far from their parents and neighbors. Above, the girl soars over the George Washington Bridge and the words of the book are written into the fabric of the quilt. Parents reading this book to their kids would do well to read the summary at the end of the tale to themselves before reading the picture book to their children. That way they'll be better equipped to answer any potential questions the children might bring up regarding labor union practices regarding African Americans or the history of flight in the stories of slaves. This book covers a lot of ground. The basis of the tale itself is rooted in Ringgold's own experiences of growing up in Harlem as a child. She even gives a little background on the characters discussed within the tale and their lives.

The book is drawn using acrylics on canvas paper with the occasional quilted piece appearing on the sides. As for the plot, kids reading the book may be a little confused as to whether or not the heroine of the tale actually is flying or if it's just in her head. After all, there's a pretty clear picture of her little brother lying below looking up as his sister soars. If kids are able to get past that little detail, however, they'll probably love the tale. I mean, who hasn't wanted to fly freely over friends and family? Who hasn't wanted to give their parents everything they'd need to be happy? Or, for that matter, own an ice cream factory?

The book is well rooted in history, imagination, and colorful storytelling. With a pedigree such as this, it's hard not to admire it thoroughly. And if you'd like yet another book to pair it with during your storytime, consider "The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge" by H.H. Smith, which is ALSO about the building of the George Washington bridge. Altogether this is an important book with a well told message.

I have a very early edition that shows a hand on page 418 (West has S-KQ72, etc.) that is ice cold if declarer wins the opening KS lead and immediately leads his low spade. The analysis incorrectly states that declarer will lose 1 spade, 1 heart and 2 clubs. Played correctly, as I indicate, a spade will be available for a club discard regardless of what West returns after winning the AH. This hand would be instructive if analyzed correctly and used as an example of the importance of correct timing.

First, my mother tongue is French, I'm sure you will excuse my style. In the past, I read Mollo, Kantar, Grant... always on a quest to find a great and complete bridge book and never entirely satisfied... too simplistic, too advanced, hard to read, poor teaching skills...
I wanted to find a book that was covering both the dummy play and the defense. Also, I wanted to revisit the very basics, to have a solid start, and then to go gradually into more complex techniques, covering virtually all aspects of the play, including the more advanced techniques. I was looking for the ultimate book: the Bridge Bible written by a brilliant teacher!

When I was not really looking for a book anymore, I finally tried Watson's book. I hesitated at first, because I was told his style is a bit dry and too detailed. EUREKA!!! I regret not having started with this book the very first day I played bridge. This is the ultimate BIBLE! Not only it fulfilled all my above expectations, but it goes one step beyond, he is a genius, each chapter is a revelation. I did not learn techniques; I learned the principles underlying the techniques. It is like being thought secret knowledge by a wise guru, realizing how simple everything was in the first place. His style is clear, concise, and straight to the point, but he covers a lot of material. His summaries are ideal for fast and easy review. I don't have to mention how drastically my level of play changed.

My quest is now over, I found the Grail, I now understand why Watson's book is recommended by most schools around the world. This is probably the only book you will every need about the play of the hand.

Easy to read, well organized, this masterpiece needs to be studied carefully, a must have for any serious player!

I have 40 bridge books. This one teaches you the 90% of bridge, and all the others the rest 10%. Top classic.

There is no other book comparable to this book for learning, improving and reviewing. I bought this book 30 years ago and I still go back and read some of the advanced chapters. Although the book is a little wordy, it pays to concentrate on what Watson is saying, if you are really interested in being a good bridge player.

Altered Art showcases some of the most fun altered art out there today.
This field is expanding exponentially - it seems so accessible - and offers
a relief from the generally serious world we live in.
Not that altered art can't (and doesn't) have a serious side all its own. As illustration, compare the Nori Dress by Dee Fontans on page 140 with I'll Fly Away on page 128 by Betsy Reeves. They each speak to the same theme in two entirely different languages.
Terry Taylor has assembled an incredible array of talented artists, doing what they do best, altering the bits of our wonderful, wacky, crazy and sometimes sad world into a storytelling vision of art that transcends time.

.. brilliance! You won't get through it in a day or two. I have never seen so many photographs in one book before. The projects are awesome and the author, Terry Taylor, has chosen some fantastic designers to display their work. Terry is brilliant and it is evident in his art. This is an extremely inspiring book.

This book is pretty great. There are a bit fewer "great" projects in it than I had hoped for and a few things more basic than I would have liked, but the bulk of the book is great. It's very inspirational and just plain fun to look at. The book shows a lot of pretty piles of found objects without showcasing an actual project made from said items in most cases but there are tons of other examples to look at. There are also several tips on how to do things, such as solvent transfers, which are nice. I would recommend this more to a newcomer to altered art or someone who doesn't mind spending the money to look at things they likely already know how to do. Again, the prettiness of most of it is worth it though.

I browsed through this book at the local craft store at least three times over several visits before I finally decided to buy it. I sure am glad that I did! Not only is it visually appealing, filled with so many wonderful ideas, techniques, and creative springboards for one's own ideas, but it simply, yet clearly gives directions on so many different techniques. In fact, I think that the only technique that was mentioned but not fully covered was soldering.

Everything else was carefully explained, and beautifully detailed. It does cover: altered art (obviously), altered books, cards, jewelery, dolls, techniques, copyrights, history, and much much more.

I have been creating mixed-media collages and altered art for about 2 years now, so I'd consider myself, well, not a beginner but not as advanced as others. But I believe this book would be helpful to anyone, at any level. I highly recommend it and enjoy it each time I refer back to it.

It is an absolutely beautiful book, filled with great projects and suggestions. For someone with creative aspirations but little direction, just flipping through the pages provides so much inspiration.

The book was excellent in detail, beautifully designed and gave page after page of hidden items. It provided hours of searching for alphabetic pictures and was very entertaining.

At first I wasn't sure I liked the book. I didn't like some of the darker pictures like 'Y', or the rhymes that didn't really make any sense to me, but I proved myself wrong. This book is sooo addicting! You could sit down for hours scavenging for words. There are so many!
Some people may mistake this for a little kiddy alphabet book. It couldn't be any less kiddy-ish! It's hard because it's not like the 'I Spy' books, where it has a little rhyme telling you what to find. There aren't many guidelines there to tell you what's in the picture. You have to figure it out yourself. Also, a lot of the words are pretty hard.
This book is definitely worth buying. Buy it and you'll never EVER be bored again!

The Ultimate Alphabet is a very good book. It has 26 pages of every word you can think of. It might take looking in a few different books like a flag, animal, fish, bird, and flower book to do the page. The only thing I don't like is they say there is so many words in a letter and I never find close to that many. I don't know if I sould count the word plural if there is more than one of the thing. I mean paint is not the same word as paints is it? The B's, J's, and P's are my favorite. I would get somewhere all those books the flag, ect. and a dictionary. It's very good. Now let me go back and type the J's on the computer.

If you've never seen this book, you dont know what your missing. This is by far one of the best Art / Puzzle / Alphabet books ever writen (or in this case, painted). Mike Wilks is amazing. He paints hundread of things starting with each letter into each picture. Its great because you have to be creative to figure out them all. If you can find this book, buy it, its totally worth it. I hope the republish it sometime soon.

I first heard of Mike Wilks when I was nearly 16. We saw a video about him in my art class at school back in 1992. All the kids looked pretty impressed, I certainly was. The film showed the way Wilks produces his pictures. We saw his studio in the Pyrenees mountains, an obsessively clean, sparkling white room, where the artist works in complete silence. The video made it quite clear that Wilks is a perfectionist, treating every image with the utmost care.

I finally bought "The Annotated Ultimate Alphabet" about five years after seeing the video. The quality of the artwork is incredible, there aren't many books like this around. Not only is this book entertaining, it is useful as well. Apparently Mike Wilks was influenced by Salvador Dali, but I think he is better than that. My favourite page is the letter "S", a room filled with more than 1000 objects beginning with that letter. I still can't name everything.

There are all kinds of objects in this book, ranging from the very common, to the really obscure. Some things are instantly recognisable, others will leave you completely baffled. It would be no exaggeration to say that anyone who reads this book and absorbs it fully will become an excellent Scrabble player.

In these images Mike Wilks demonstrates exeptional ability, particularly with the airbrush. Here we see draftsmanship of the highest order, just about every member of the animal kingdom is represented accurately. Pen and ink drawings accompany the word lists, giving additional nourishment to a growing vocabulary.

This book gives new meaning to that phrase about a picture saying a thousand words.

This is a fairly useful accessory by itself and a great companion for the Menzoberranzan boxed set and Complete Book of Elves. It goes into great detail about Drow ways, customs, etc, and I found this to be slightly boring.

I enjoyed a lot of the magical items it introduces, but didnt find it to be terribly useful for player characters.

This is by far the most detailed resource book ever about drow that I have found besides just reading the novels. It is very enjoyable to read if you are a drow fan or a underdark DM, or simply wish to have a basis on how to rp your drow. I use it as a bible when it comes to my players bickering on how drow are and what this book says is final as far as I am concerned. If you do not give this book 5 stars I suggest you look at yourself and ask how anal you really are. If you can find a better resource book please let me know. So far this is the winner in my opinion.

This is the best D&D rules supplement I have ever purchased. It contains so much information about the drow (dark) elves. It talks about their religion, their language, and a sect of drow that are good aligned. If you have any interest in ever including drow in your campaign this is the book for you. I use the drow- english dictionary in it all the time. It makes interesting puzzles for my PCs. Even when I am not playing D&D I use this book; it has some cool drow names that I like to use as names for some of my MUD characters. Without a doubt this is the most useful D&D book I own short of the Monsters Manual.

AN EXCELLENT BOOK THAT GIVES SOMEONE THAT IS NEW A VERY GOOD UNDERSTANDING AND BACK GROUND OF THE DROW UNDERWORLD

A detailed journey through the drow world. The Drow of the Underdark is perhaps the only book which will give you precise details and also a lot of aid in creating a drow PC or NPC. Going through everything from drow history to magical items, the Drow of the Underdark is a must for all players. It's adaptability is unmatched yet, and is useable by all players.

Better yet, it has a cover unlike many of the other Forgotten Realms expansions. A black paperback cover inlaid with gold.

This book seems to have acquired quite a reputation through the years. Indeed the cover boldly proclaims "Lessons in Classical Chess From The Greatest Teacher Of All Time" The back cover says that many regarded this as the best book ever written on the game Such impressive blurb ensured that this was one of the very first books I never read when I started my (self taught) quest to become a better player.

To put it briefly, this book does contain some useful insights. Tarrasch begins with a chapter on the endgame and the beginner will gain some knowledge of the most basic endgame positions

The next chapter is on The Middlegame, and a wide array of tactics are discussed. As well as the essential tactics of the pin, discovered attacks etc, there are more obscure things like "two bishops against a castled position" "the imprisonment of a bishop" and "the point b6 as a target fo rattack"

The next is on the opening and the opening, and as some have noted this section is is often quite dated. No Pirc, Kings Indian, Nimzo Indian, or other more modern openings. But it quite comprehensive of the more classical openings, and I have to admit I did find some interesting ideas for my opening repertoire.

Lastly comes the chapter of Illustrative Games, and, well it does exactly what it says on the tin really.

So he covers the Opening, Middlegame and Endgame as well as Illustrative games! So what's the problem, why only 3 stars? Well, he doesn't actually explain *how* to play chess. He explains various tactics very well, but this book never taught me how to find a logical, objective plan during middlegames. The furthest he goes with this is to say that "we can never do what we wish we must only so what we are forced to do".But his discussions on stratgy are very vague, he says things like "we must advanced a backward pawn, we must play a badly posted piece of a better position"

So I can recommend this book for it's gentle (but not exhaustive) introduction to endgames, the chapter of middlegame tactics ( I certainly picked up some valuable insights here and there)and an excellent essay on the strategy of the opening, where heexplains the three subjects of space, force and time. But I deduct 1 star for the fact that planning is not well explained, and another 1 for the somewhat dated openings section. This book has some useful insights to be sure, but this is not the best or most useful book on chess I have read.

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.

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 book was mindblowing to read. The ideas presented in this book feel like logic that should be taught in schools, but sadly its not.

I dare you to read this book and disagree with its philosophy.

First of all, I'll concede that it's tough to find someone who argues better for libertarianism in practical, understandable terms than Mary Ruark. Moreover, her book's a very simple read and paints vivid examples of what a libertarian world *might* look like.

But this brings me to my first minor critique. Ruark provides examples of the way a free nation might run, but she elaborates on them in such detail that one begins to get the impression that she's arguing for the examples themselves. When she discusses a system of free-market private schooling, she describes the schools she envisions in intricate detail, and they don't remotely resemble what I think schooling in a libertarian country would look like. Now - Presuming I weren't a libertarian and even slightly objected to the school system she describes, I might simply reject all her ideas based on my objections to her illustrations of them.

Secondly, I just disagree with Ruark's anarcho-capitalistic version of libertarianism. I really am - as some libertarians would say - myopic enough to believe that we need government to provide public goods (I'm talking about the real ones like defense, police protection, and criminal justice). And call me a statist, but I think we'd have to fund these government activities with taxes. Of some kind. Somehow. Of the unvoluntary sort. With - yes - government force to ensure compliance.

Otherwise, though, this book should make an interesting read for libertarians and non.

I love this book. Really.

Dr. Ruwart's political philosophy's foundation is about non-aggression. This is nothing new in the libertarian creed, and the difference is that instead of concentrating on arguments of property rights, she really drives home with the non-aggression principle. She avers that by using aggression (i.e. force) to solve our problems, we end up only worsening our lives. We create a world of zero-sum games instead of a system that respects individual choices so long as they do not harm our person or property.

What also makes this book a pleasure to read is that it its tone is very friendly and accommodating. Many people (rightly) expect books on political philosophy to be badgering or aggressively written, so I like that Dr. Ruwart ditched the popular approach. Plus, her compassionate way of writing makes it difficult to call her a bloodthirsty free-market fan -- she does care about matters like helping the poor and making healthcare accessible.

Every issue she looks at shows the failures of aggression (i.e. government) to be effective, and conversely non-aggression (i.e. voluntary, private cooperation) has been more successful. Healthcare intervention? It's aggression, and it's bad for our health (and our wallet). The Federal Reserve? Central banking is aggression that monopolizes the money supply and creates the "boom & bust" cycle. The public school system? It might be obvious that the Department of Education doesn't actually educate anyone, but the whole setup is aggressive too, and children suffer because of it.

The principle of non-aggression is also applied to pollution, crime & punishment, the FDA, gun ownership, and -- the one especially important these days -- foreign policy. Non-aggression wins every time, and very few issues go untouched.

A cool touch to Dr. Ruwart's book is that she puts tons of great, great quotes in the margins, which work wonderfully with the topic at hand. One of my favorites comes from the first chapter (about the basis of non-aggression): "...we are living in a sick Society filled with people who would not directly steal from their neighbor but who are willing to demand that the government do it for them," says William L. Comer. That's classic! There's a lot of great ones, many of which I didn't recognize.

Please, read this book. This is a world where governments keep getting bigger, and that will always mean more aggression as the State invades more aspects of our lives. Know what's scary? In Chapter 19, "The Communist Threat Is All In Our Minds", Ruwart shows that the United States has implemented eight of ten policies The Communist Manifesto declared necessary for a transition into socialism. Darn. So, getting the word out on liberty is always a good thing. Please see Scott Ryan's excellent review of this book too.

There are two books I recommend as introductions to libertarian thought. One of them is Murray Rothbard's _For A New Liberty_. This is the other.

Dr. Mary Ruwart's _Healing Our World_ is in some ways a better general introduction suitable for a broader audience, in large measure because it appeals to the better nature of everybody from conservative Christians to hippie mystics: she really _does_ mean, and quite rightly, that libertarian principles are the means for healing our world. Her essential point is that, _whatever_ our goals and beliefs, we can best serve them by honoring our neighbors' choices so long as they aren't threatening our lives or property. For when we do so, everybody wins; my gains aren't your losses, and there really is a common good at which we can both aim.

Moreover, Ruwart carefully and compassionately explains why the libertarian approach is a better way to bring about the (entirely legitimate) goals of the more modern sort of liberal: for example, improving the quality and availability of medical care (including alternative medicines), reducing pollution, saving the environment, and so forth. Readers of, say, the Objectivist/Randian literature might come away with the impression that concern for the well-being of persons other than oneself (let alone the "environment"!) is just incompatible with libertarianism. Ruwart argues that in fact libertarianism offers not only the best way to _promote_ such concern but the only viable way to put it into practice. (On this ground alone, there are probably lots of _libertarians_ who could profit from a close reading of Ruwart's book just to pick up its tone and tenor. Her example of tolerant understanding could lead more "brittle" thinkers to enter empathically into values that haven't exactly been common among libertarians.)

Lurking in the background of Ruwart's exposition is her clear sense of the "market" as simply voluntary human interaction within a framework of obligatory respect for others' well-being. This view should appeal even to readers who don't care for the term "market"; it might, for example, be attractive to various sorts of communitarian and others who worry about the reduction of social life to economic exchange. The essential point is that human society, community, is an organic network of interacting centers of voluntary activity, not a bureaucratic order that imposes mechanical top-down rules via statute or regulatory agency -- and that trying to turn it from the former into the latter is just a fancy way to destroy it.

Ruwart's outlook should delight everybody from Calvinists to Hayekians to Taoists. And there has never been a time at which it's been more important to get the word out on liberty. Get this book at once and pass out copies to your friends; Ruwart's libertarianism has something to say to people of every political and/or religious persuasion or none.

By the way, you can pre-read it online if you know where to look. Amazon doesn't permit URLs in reviews, but write me if you want to know.

Well, maybe just the young idealistic legislators. The career legislators will probably pooh pooh the idea that we might be alright making our own decisions.