(Part 2) Best puzzles books according to redditors

I play chess. My USCF rating is currently 2123... And I thought the sphere chess looked absolutely retarded at first too.

>Nah, I feel you should start from openings.

You shouldn't. Opening theory is quite dense and heavily influenced by computer analysis. You benefit more from trying to understand what you are trying to achieve, rather than trying to simply memorize some openings.

Logical Chess: Move by Move is a great book for anyone that has mastered the basics but is looking to learn more. You will pick up some opening knowledge along the way, learn how openings give rise to specific kinds of middle-games. And you will come across some endgames (although endgame basics are absent).

If you wish to seriously improve there are 3 parts:

• Understanding the reasons behind moves in the opening of a game - decisions regarding pawn structure are especially significant as these will determine the nature of the battle to come in the middle-game. For this - annotates games (like those in Logical Chess) are beneficial. Specific opening books are also useful but only after you've got a feel for what kind of middle-games you like (because then you know what kinds of openings to pick!). Other game collections (there are tons of great ones): Botvinnik: One Hundred Selected Games and for the more advanced Zurich 1953
  
• Tactics. Chess, like other things, has a large component of pattern recognition. Solving tactical problems from workbooks (there are hundreds of these, so I will recommend 2: Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games and 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations
  
• Endgames. Endgames are the most math-like in terms of study. You learn basic endgames (K+P vs lone K, K+R+P vs K+R, etc...). Once you have the basics, you can 'solve' more complicated positions by trading down (reducing them) to basic endings. Know nothing about endings? Here is one place to start: Pandolfini's Endgame Course. Dvoretsky's endgame books are also excellent.
  
  
  There is quite a lot of chess literature. If you enjoy chess and wish to study and improve there are plenty of ways to do that. If competing in tournaments interests you check out the United States Chess Federation if you are in the states. If you are abroad, check out FIDE. And of course there are online options such as chess.com, the Internet Chess Club, etc...
  
  Sorry... bit of an enthusiast :)
  

I'm glad you like it. These puzzles are called Pawn Mowers. Maurice composed them to make chess learning fun. Here are the link to free resources:

Queen

Knight

Bishop

Rook

Other links:

Print book on Amazon

Chess Curriculum

It is called a puzzle book, but I really like To Mock a Mockingbird. It went pretty fast for me, and is relevant to both Math and CompSci.

Anything by Martin Gardner. http://www.amazon.com/Entertaining-Mathematical-Puzzles-Martin-Gardner/dp/B002A6XT46/ref=la_B000AP8X8G_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413348758&sr=1-4

Honestly, most people's first builds are going to be bad, regardless of who they are.

Yes, it will be fairly challenging, Also, bear in mind that kit you're looking at doesn't include paint or glues, which you'd need to buy seperately at a hobby shop or online retailer. If you go to the company's website they'll probably have a copy of the instruction sheets where you can find color callouts.

Here are some reviews of the product and a build from someone on a forum, so you can gauge the complexity of the project and see if it meets your needs.

http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/aca/kit_aca_14202.shtml

See also:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/157165.aspx


If you insist on buying that as a present, you should also acquire:
Ignore the prices. Online retailers or in shop stores may provide better prices, its just that searching on amazon is a lot faster.

1. Liquid cement, such as this: http://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-87038-Extra-Thin-Cement/dp/B000BMYWYC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-2&keywords=liquid+cement+tamiya
   
2. A few sizes of golden talkon acrylic paintbrushes (because it's his first build and you want to minimize financial outlay, brushes are the way to go, along with easier to use paint). Those can be found at any art supply store for cheaper, but here's an example:
   http://www.dickblick.com/products/princeton-realvalue-golden-taklon-brush-sets/
   
   You will also need paint, and a hobby knife, like an x-acto knife or a hobbyist scalpel. Depending on which side of the pond you're on:
   
   
   
3. US: X-acto #11 knife and blades.
   UK: Swann Morton #11 scalpel (they look kind of alike) and blades
   
   
   
   
4. Paint: this is your friend's first build, you say. So you need good, brushable paint. The kind I use is this: MOdel Master Acrylic paint. My personal experience is that this paint is very forgiving and easy to use.
   
   
   http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tes/tes4736.htm?source=froogle&gclid=CN2AkOGNzsACFWoR7AoddGQASQ
   
   
5. You will also need a can of spray primer, something like this, because the paint doesn't stick so well without it:
   You spray this on the entire model before painting it with actual colors.
   
   http://www.amazon.com/TES2937-Gray-Primer-Spray-Testors/dp/B002ARGXU2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410058678&sr=8-2&keywords=testors+primer
   
   ***This presumes that you want your friend to have a shot at building something that looks quite presentable. It still takes skill to do this sort of thing, and it's hist first build, so it will generally look bad, but if he enjoys it, does it matter?
   
   Alternatives if you think this is too complicated:
   
   A paper model kit which builds into something 53 inches long:
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Titanic-25/dp/3836530821/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410058750&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=paper+model+HMS+titanic
   
   Or: this is supposedly a bit challenging, but it's the size of a trinket. You have to take a flat package of laser cut metal sheets and bend and shape it into a model.
   
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Fascinations-Metal-Earth-Marvels-Titanic/dp/B008LY4Y68/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410059956&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=metal+HMS+titanic
   
   
   TLDR: "yes, it's a challenge. Frankly, his first model will probably suck. Here are a bunch of tools you should consider purchasing to make his first build easier and look better. But it will still probably suck. Finally, here is a paper model he doesn't need to paint that makes a big model, costs less, and is more likely to give a better final result."
   
   Also: you are a nice friend.
   

It's probably either you play too fast, or lack board vision.

If it's the first, then just play slower and always try to answer the question : "what is my opponent trying to do/threatening ?" after they move, and "what is my opponent's likely answer" to your intended move.

If it's the second you can benefit from going over a tactics book, a real book where tactics are organized by theme. You can also use board vision exercises, such as chess mazes : https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Mazes-Volumes-Bruce-Albertson/dp/B006Z2343W or go to chessgym.net and do the 'attackers' exercise

If you want more insights, please post a couple of your 15-10 games with your own comments (not the engine's).

Maybe he's reading this?

I have not read The Annotated Alice, but I have read and still have my copy of The Universe in a Handkerchief, which explores the puzzles and games, both obvious and not-so-obvious, in Lewis Carroll's books, with most of the examples coming from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Really, those two books are the kind of books I'd like to write a PhD dissertation on given just how rich they are, and how they have something for everyone.

Copied from OP's comment above:
> Here are the link to free resources:
>
> Queen
>
> Knight
>
> Bishop
>
> Rook
>
> Other links:
>
> Print book on Amazon
>
> Chess Curriculum

These are a few I tend to mention:

• Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, by Keith Johnstone.
  
• This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes and The Tao is Silent, by Raymond Smullyan.
  
• The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul, edited by Hofstadter and Dennett.
  
• Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes.
  
• The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology, by Robert Wright.
  
• Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang.
  
• Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), by Jerome K. Jerome.
  
  You should read all of them! I can elaborate some if you'd like, but, really, only to the degree that it'd take to get you to read them; at that point they can speak for themselves far better than I can for them.

You should get this book by Raymond Smullyan: http://www.amazon.com/What-name-this-book-Dracula/dp/0139550887

It's full of logic puzzles like this.

This has little bearing with grade school math in the sense that they are puzzle books (and hence more focused on general problem solving than specific math concepts) but I really like Mathematical Circles and The Moscow Puzzles.

There's no modern cryptanalysis in it, but Cryptanalysis: A Study of Ciphers and Their Solution is a great book. I still reference it.

/u/pawn_grabber has good suggestions. Although it might be a bit over your head I'd add Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games or a good collection of Capablanca games. I enjoyed Fred Reinfeld's The Immortal Games of Capablanca, but that's apparently only available in descriptive notation. Which might be an issue.

Here are the two I loved reading around the age of 10:

https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Can-Be-Fun-Perelman/dp/0828531714/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Mathematics+Can+Be+Fun&qid=1568304872&s=books&sr=1-2

https://www.amazon.com/Fun-Maths-Physics-Yakov-Perelman/dp/2917260319/ref=pd_cp_14_2?pd_rd_w=w0d3g&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=KT2SQ9RRW7JX5ZHZVD3N&pd_rd_r=8570a2f1-d81b-4d50-b534-e14872c3ce49&pd_rd_wg=Xaguj&pd_rd_i=2917260319&psc=1&refRID=KT2SQ9RRW7JX5ZHZVD3N

Despite what I just said, don't be deceived: these books feature very thought-provoking puzzles and mental experiments. They may be on an easier side, but everyone can learn something new from them and look at the old things from a different perspective.

I would argue that these books were the reason I became interested in mathematics in the first place. There is something about how they are written that just picks at the core of your curiosity and pulls you into the world of logic and intuition.

I do like Codeword, I think every British paper has it. It's popular enough that you can buy books and calendars (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Codeword-Day-2018-codeword-puzzles/dp/1974633853/). The others are more unique; Lexica is in the Times, and Zygolex and Gogen in the Daily Mail (which, despite being a somewhat trashy paper, has a really good puzzle section).

There are also the numeric puzzles, Futoshiki, Killer, Kakuro etc but I guess those wouldn't fit in a "crossword" subreddit.

how about something like Tim Harding's - Better Chess for Average Players

The preface to the first edition says: "This book assumes no more knowledge of chess than the moves of the pieces, it is designed both as entertainment and as an instruction course to lead you in gentle stages from first principles up to the standard of a good club team player. Therefore beginners should read the book in order, though experienced club and school players may prefer to skip the first couple of units. Exercises are set at the end of most, though not all, the units but if you want to derive maximum benefit from the book I recommend that every example should be treated as a puzzle. Study the diagrams before reading what I have to say about them."

I like this one best. http://www.amazon.com/The-Universe-Handkerchief-Mathematical-Recreations/dp/0387256415

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Tactics-Progressively-Challenging-Chess-ebook/dp/B00K4IFBVQ

This may not be quite what you're looking for, but there's a fantastic Ebook on superminiatures at Amazon for $3. On a mobile device, apologies for the fugly link.

Ninja edit since my phone is being psychotic. The superminiatures provide spectacular examples of what not to do in the opening.

Hard to get any easier that Bruce Pandolfini's "Beginning Chess: Over 300 Elementary Problems for Players New to the Game" (https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Chess-Elementary-Problems-Players/dp/0671795015/) . As already mentioned, "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" is also a good first tactics book. Tim Brennan of "Tactics Time" fame co-authored a Kindle book called "399 Super Easy Chess Tactics " (https://www.amazon.com/399-Super-Easy-Chess-Tactics-ebook/dp/B00AAQCBGU), described as a good warm up for people not yet ready for "Tactics Time".

Smullyan's books are very good. My favourite is Satan, Cantor and Infinity

I'm an advanced beginner, I guess you could say, and I'm really getting into Better Chess for Average Players. The title says it all. The author assumes the reader knows all the basic moves, and is looking to go from there -- pins, skewers, what to avoid, what to look out for, etc.

Raymond Smullyan wrote a book you might enjoy.