Bridges Books

In 1951 the author was 21 when she arrived in New Guinea to live with her new husband. Festooned in pearls, she soon found a world filled with snakes in the ceiling, spiders as big as dinner plates, and cultural challenges galore - but it was her involvement with Pole Stan Rybarz which led to her journey into the jungles of New Guinea to construct roads and bridges. Plenty of cultural insights meld with an autobiography of adventure which will engross any reader.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The title above refers to the fact that there are VERY few memoirs, diaries or published letters relating to the engineers in the Civil War, even though the engineers were considered the "elite" of the army. "Bridge Building in Wartime" is a great addition to the literature of the engineers. As a field officer, Brainerd was "in the know" about many behind the scenes occurrences in the 50th New York Volunteer Engineers. Because the memoir was not for publication, but written chiefly for his son, it contains many honest and frank comments about his colleagues and superior officers that might not have seen the light of day had his reminiscences been published while he lived.
Ed Malles, the editor, needs to be thanked for bringing Brainerd's memoir to the public. He does a good job of explaining things Brainerd takes for granted in the memoirs. The only disappointment is that the memoirs end about the time the siege of Petersburg begins in June of 1864. Hopefully, the rest of the manuscript (if available) will be found and brought to light in time...
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the War Between the States and especially for those who want to know more about the war fought by the engineers.

I really liked this book. It was a book I could read and pass it on to my older grandchildren. I have been trying to find another book by this author. I hope she has written more books....

James Thomas Stevens is an incredible poet; at once intelligent, precise, and provocative, his work can level you with a single line. Ever since I read "Combing the Snakes From His Hair," and the line "sentenced to hear the cry of all things broken" literally tore me apart, I've loved Stevens' work. Please find some of his poetry online and buy any of his collections you can get your hands on. Trust me, this is a poet who is putting out work worth reading.

Good book for anyone working in Bridge Design. Compiles alot of information into just one book making it an easy reference, with lots of useful information and review problems.

Bridge Endplays for Everyone: Yes, Even You! is a bridge guide intended for intermediate to advanced players. Though the endplay of a bridge game can be extraordinarily complex, its basic principles are much more straightforward; Bridge Endplays for Everyone covers different types of elimination play (such as loser-on-loser or partial elimination play), aspects of the trump (such as the trump coup, trump elopement, or trump endplay), the throw-in, the strip squeeze, and much more. Author David Bird, well-known for his "St. Titus Abbey" stories that appear regularly in bridge magazines worldwide, walks the reader through the workings of bridge endplays in a conversational, easy-to-follow style. A "must-have" for any bridge devotee seeking to improve their game!

This is the best book I have come across for someone who is a total beginner at Bridge. The explanation of the basic principles that govern the game, both in the area of card play, as well as bidding, is very simple and lucid. The first two chapters provide the beginner with an introduction to this great game.

The remaining ten chapters cover the areas of bidding and card play.

I bear testimony to the fact that this book is worth it's weight in gold for the complete beginner.

Three cheers for Victor Mollo and Nico Gardener!!!

A Bridge for Grandma This is a very beautiful book that is so needed in our time of pervasive fear and denial of death. We were pleased with the reaction of our 7 year old grandchild who has often talked about her fear of dying. The wonderful pictures and reassuring story gave her a new view of death and relieved some of her fears while also giving her, and us, something more to think about. I highly recommend this book for parents and grandparents as well as schools, hospitals, and clinics. It is a gift for kids of all ages!
Elizabeth Tempel

A friend of mine gave me this book many years ago when I was in college. This book is a wonderful resource book for someone learning bridge with little or no background in the game. Based on the advice that I was given which I found to be be quite useful, the book works best if read from cover to cover initially, to get the feel of the game. It is only about 75 pages of actual text, and even then it is an easy, quick and quite entertaining read and catches your interest. Then you can go back and work your way through the meatier aspects of playing the game. After a couple of times through the book, a novice can literally sit down, with understanding friends, and play bridge. The book is very helpful in bidding your hands and in playing. It is quite useful in its hints, and I made notes on what to look for in my hands to enable me to bid somewhat intelligently and enjoy the game.
I would recommend this book be in every rec center and library in the reference section. It would make a wonderful text book. I had attempted to learn bridge with other books labelled bridge for beginners, but the complexity of the game and the strategies lost me. This book cuts through to the core basics to get you started, without the panic of "what do I do now?" The cartoon illustrations and humor keep your interest, serve to explain the concepts, and focus on the reason why people would play to begin with-- for their enjoyment and the social interaction with their friends. Great book.

There are a number of good books about duplicate bridge. But I'm glad that this one, one of the first really good such books, is still available.

As the authors point out, in duplicate bridge, one routinely risks one's contract to get an overtrick, because the margin by which one beats the other pairs in one's direction does not matter as long as one beats them. Your +630 at 3 NT making 4 may be fine, beating the +620 scores for 4 of a major, while +600 (which you get by making a safety play) may well get you a zero. On the other hand, in competitive auctions, while +200 beats all part scores, you only need to double if you feel that most pairs your way will indeed get a plus score.

Those who play Acol will enjoy the recommendations made to modify it for duplicate bridge. Of course, you may already play many of them. These include a variety of competitive doubles. There are some "old" conventions, such as Swiss, Lightner doubles, and Unusual notrumps. These conventions were around for some time when the book was written (1968), but the way the authors use them is a little different from what you might expect. And some "new" (1968) conventions are suggested, such as Aspro over opponent's 1 NT opening in second or fourth position (bid 2D with spades and a minor, bid 2C with hearts and any other suit).

The book includes a discussion of relay bidding systems and gives an example of a "futuristic" system, namely the "Little Major." I think you may not want to take up this particular system, even if your tournament director allows it, but it makes for interesting reading. And the book then has a discussion of leads and signals.

Oh yes, there is a final chapter about the personal factor. Reese and Dormer give a great example. What blind lead do you make against 3 NT from:

Spades K J 6 3 Hearts Q 7 5 Diamonds J 6 4 2 Clubs 10 9

Anything could be right, so just lead something quickly and smoothly. A player who hesitates over this lead "is not cogitating" but dithering. "Meanwhile, an astute declarer will be thinking" that you do not have a five-card suit, that your four-card suits are unattractive, and that the suit you finally lead may well be short.

And a final piece of good advice has to do with your opponents. When they make a mistake, tend to be silent about it. Good manners are the same as good tactics here.

It's a good book that is well worth reading for tournament players