Book Suggestions

Forum Archive : Book Suggestions

 
Informal book survey

From:   Chuck Bower
Address:   bower@astro.indiana.edu
Date:   28 December 2005
Subject:   informal bg book survey
Forum:   GammOnLine

There have been a lot of good backgammon books written recently (past
5-6 years). It's time to update the reading list.

Suppose you want to design a complete course (beginner --> intermediate
--> advanced --> expert). What books and in what order would you
recommend? Note that although I don't think there should be a limit on
number of books, please make your list efficient. I.e., don't list books
that overlap too much.

David Levy  writes:

OK, I'll try (and hope not to offend). Walter's book is difficult to
place in order as it covers the gamut from beginner to expert. It is
also hard to know when to introduce match play. If this were a college
course my syllabus of TEXT books would be:

    * Magriel: Backgammon
    * Trice: Backgammon Boot Camp
    * Robertie: Advanced Backgammon, Volumes I and II
    * Bagai: Classic Backgammon Revisted
    * Robertie: Modern Backgammon

I would assign parallel readings from annotated matches

    * Woolsey: Amateur vs Expert
    * Storer: Backgammon Praxis

and carefully culled material from Danny Kleinman's works.

Gee: wouldn't it be great to have all of the technical material from all
of Kleinman's books in one convenient volume? So much of it has
withstood the bot onslaught, but is is spread across so many volumes and
mixed with stuff of much less interest.

Chuck Bower  writes:

> Wouldn't it be great to have all of the technical material from all of
> Kleinman's books in one convenient volume?

I've thought that exact thing before. Some of his stuff is great and
some is, to put it mildly, annoying. Even a good index for all his works
would be nice. Like many BG projects that never happen, I'm just adding
this one to the list.

Frank Berger  writes:

I would like to add:

    * Woolsey, Heinrich: New Ideas in Backgammon.

Still a great book and IMHO as seminal as Magriel's, and much
underrated.

    * Wiggins: Boards, Blots and double Shots.

As a short course after Magriel,

    * Ortega: Fascinating Backgammon

might fit well.

ciao Frank

GaryO  writes:

* Robertie: 501 Essential Backgammon Problems

is good, too, any quality lacking (irritating format) is made up by
volume.
 
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Book Suggestions

After Magriel  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen+, Aug 2000) 
Annotated matches  (Walter Trice, Jan 2000) 
Best books from the bot era  (Chuck Bower+, Nov 2007) 
Best next step  (Gregg Cattanach+, July 2002) 
Bibliography  (Carl Tait, Apr 2000)  [Long message]
Books for advanced players  (Edward D. Collins, June 2003) 
Books for serious players  (Douglas Zare, Feb 2003) 
Books on match play  (Keene Marin+, Sept 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
Buyer's guide  (Chuck Bower, Feb 1998) 
How to read backgammon books  (Gary Wong, Jan 1998) 
Ideal book on backgammon  (Laury Chizlett, Apr 2000) 
Informal book survey  (Chuck Bower+, Dec 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
John Bazigos's suggestions  (Mika Johnsson, July 1993) 
Magriel, Robertie, and Kleinman  (Gregg Cattanach, May 2000) 
Marty Storer's reading list  (Larry Hunter, May 1992) 
Recommended Backgammon Books  (Butch Meese, Jan 1984) 
Survey of some available books  (William Hill, Jan 1998) 
Three underrated books  (Mary Hickey, July 2003)  [GammOnLine forum]
What's a good second book?  (Tommy+, Dec 2000) 
Which book by Chris Bray should I buy?  (Timothy Chow+, July 2012) 

[GammOnLine forum]  From GammOnLine       [Long message]  Long message       [Recommended reading]  Recommended reading       [Recent addition]  Recent addition
 

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