(Part 3) Best puzzles & games books according to redditors
We found 5,215 Reddit comments discussing the best puzzles & games books. We ranked the 1,627 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
I know Jon professionally and he's a standup guy (I was a pro Magic player before moving to Seattle to work on the game behind the scenes; check out an interview I did with Jon here: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=6639).
As a writer I would guess this piece was written under the gun and off the cuff with little thought put into it. It's certainly a bold personal stake for the author to take ("I'm shallow, and that's a good thing!").
Jon is arguably the greatest professional Magic player of all time, but the reality is that he simply has an incredible mind. He left Magic professionally to beat casinos playing blackjack, and a book was written about his exploits (find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Jonny-Magic-Card-Shark-Kids/dp/1400064074). With the money he made there, he started a hedge fund where he is still involved in day-to-day operations (last I knew). The company is called Landscape Capital Management.
It's offensive from the perspective of being a human being to see the author talk about humanity in such shallow terms, but to see a good guy get disparaged by such a shallow cretin is even more frustrating. The truly sad thing for the author is that as a self-admitted shallow husk of a human being, the wealthy well traveled Finkel is exactly the type of guy she's looking for.
(Edit: Jon played on a Blackjack team, not poker, though lots of famous poker players are former/current Magic players.)
EDIT: Jon responds https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/Jonnymagic00
Not sure about this, but Jon Finkel has had books written about him and made millions through Blackjack and Poker. He was out of her league. http://www.amazon.com/Jonny-Magic-Card-Shark-Kids/dp/1400064074
I've recently been reading the WoW Diary by John Staats, and all I can say is that Mark Kern was important to the early development of WoW. He was not alone about it, but he at least made production of WoW bearable.
Him and Shane Dabiri had been associate producers on Starcraft. A experience which was terrible for both. Allen Adham (One of Blizzard founders) was slaving away the SC team. He was constantly moving goalposts and keeping employees working for 12 - 16 hours (People had sleeping bags in their offices).
Using this experience, both him and Shane made sure that Team 2 (WoW team) was not burning out from ridiculous work hours. Mark has a ton of presence throughout the diary as well. He is at least portrayed as an awesome boss.
I think it's a bit reductionist to just call him a generic team lead. His work on WoW was actually great, and whatever comes after shouldn't take away from that fact.
It's especially funny since he made an insane amount of cash counting cards in Vegas as part of a pro team of card counters:
http://www.amazon.com/Jonny-Magic-Card-Shark-Kids/dp/1400064074
The guy is loaded.
What? That isn't what happened at all. Shit, now I have to rewatch the video to show why you are wrong. God damn it. Will edit soon.
Edit below:
First hand he says, "I chose to call because I had some aggressive players here and I just wanna be sure there aren't any big cards here."
First off, that is anathema to poker theory. Calling is always the weakest move and he's making a joke by explaining the hand backwards. Inside joke for people who know poker theory. You flush out big cards (especially on a 378 flop) by betting into the pot not by calling. Calling doesn't push anything out. Two spades on the board and calling player has 2nd highest flush draw with QK. One of the worst positions to be in, he loses the hand on the river versus a Jack of spades which is a double slap in the face because its the only card that improves both of their hands. Adds insult to injury.
Second hand "JJ in small blind, this is a great spot to get them." He's not wrong there, but he only calls which pulls the big blind into the hand (he mis-speaks and says, "Oh the small blind called", he meant to say big blind). Flop comes 433 with a potential flush draw but this is a good flop otherwise for JJ with three players in the pot. BB goes all-in in a confusing turn of events as there is no pre-flop hand that he should've called the original raise with. BB hole cards 38 giving him a set of 3's with the flop. Basically big blind was playing stupidly in order to draw someone in (or was just an idiot playing poorly). In either case it fucks the Jacks.
Third hand JJ late position with aggressive players behind you, the player calls and another players (presumably conservative) goes all-in in what the player assumed to be heads up which throws a wrench in his plan. Player calls because he has jacks and gets fucked by the aces. Aggressive player from original explanation folds and isn't even in the final hand.
Fourth hand "Pocket Jacks here, middle position, cash table, low stakes" JJ versus overcard (an overcard is a single card on the table higher than the cards in your hand which may potentially be paired with another player's hole card), this is already looking bad for the player. "That means you bet!" He's right, if you want to detect an overcard you have to bet into it, either they will bluff the card and you'll win, or they have it and you minimize your losses by betting into it and folding. Player bets 50% pot which is an acceptable bet. Note he's playing against the biggest stack at the table, who is likely more willing to call bets which are <1/10 his stack. Second overcard comes out, same as before except now twice as bad because there are two. Big stack bets 1/3 pot, player re-raises 1/4 pot (a pointless raise that anyone would call, bad play), then he gets pushed all-in which he should've expected because he played meekly.
Fifth hand Tournament play, not a cash game. Dealer shoves and Jacks called heads up, perfect scenario and if this happened a million times you'd do the same thing every time. Dealer shows A3, an awful hand. Statistics are strongly in favor of JJ. Post flop only 5 cards out of 45 can save him, then 5/44 on the river. JJ looks in the clear but dealer gets an Ace, two pair wins. Nothing was done wrong on the part of JJ here.
Sixth hand Tournament play. JJ in BB against short stack who is probably on tilt. JJ v JA, JJ has the advantage but not by much. Flops turns a straight draw, only 7 cards in the deck out of 44 can save his opponent. He hits one of those 7.
Seventh hand Cash game. JJ on BB, two overcards on the flop (which sucks, potential fold here). His opponent bets in a way that doesn't maximize on his hand which makes him appear weak. Jacks lose to a hand that was played poorly, but a loss is a loss.
Eighth hand Tournament play. JJ in position again. JJ raises 3x BB, gets raised all-in. Pretty self explanatory. QQ > JJ.
Ninth hand Tournament play. Jacks looking double solid with the straight draw, but there is an overcard on the board. JJ notes that his opponent is aggressive which calls for a change in style of play, you have to confront aggressive players to get them to back down and/or defeat them off the table. Pushes the "idiot" player in, cards turn and idiot has 36 chasing the flush (a very stupid thing to do) hits the flush on the turn and hits his stupid hand. Hands like these are why poker is profitable, the opposing player did a dumb thing and chased a stupid hand that is only profitable approximately 40% of the time, 60% of the time the Jacks would have won so our player did the right thing. Still lost, this is the 40%.
Tenth hand Cash game. Confronts a loose player with JJ in order to get a payout. Aggressive player responds conservatively and disappoints the player.
TLDR: He make a combination of jokes giving bad advice, but generally doing the right thing and shows that no matter how well you play Jacks they will fuck you in the ass.
To reply to /u/Balthanos
>He kept losing because he was not paying attention to his opponent. He was betting when another player went "all in" which usually infers they have something.
When another player goes all-in, there are only two replies.
You can't reply with a "bet" when an opponent goes all-in so I'm not even sure what you are saying. If you are saying he was betting before the all-in and the mistake was to call, well that's plainly just not true in most of these scenarios, and if you are saying that he should not have bet before the all-in occurred then I want to know where you keep your crystal ball because I could use it for my poker games.
I WROTE THIS REALLY FAST SO I APOLOGIZE FOR MY GRAMMAR
Daniel Negreanu on Jacks.
Poker theory on Jacks (and more).
___
If you've made it to the end of this post, chances are you may be interested in poker. I will recommend some resources for you to further your knowledge and perhaps get some new players into the game.
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book is an amazing resource for the beginner and the advanced poker player who has perhaps forgotten some of the basics. Its a nice pocket reference book and a quick read, I have no doubt that it will improve your game.
Harrington on Hold-em this is a TOURNAMENT based book. So if your friends have a game they play on a weekly basis which is a CASH game this book is NOT APPLICABLE. Just be aware that the style of play across Poker is NOT universal. You will play differently in tournaments and cash games and players tend to gravitate toward one or the other. Note on the author, he is an extremely conservative player thus the book is written from that perspective. He does however do an excellent job of analyzing other players and explaining their motivations, using real hands he has been in over the years in real tournaments.
The Theory of Poker another good book for you if you've never read anything about poker.
You might be thinking to yourself, I'm awful with math! I could never understand poker! The statistics, the combinations, the confusion! Well you'd be wrong. The math of poker is not difficult and by the time you've played a few games you've already memorized a bunch of it. Situations repeat often enough that you'll learn to spot them early on and learn to predict the likely outcomes.
Then you might like this!
And no, I am in no way affiliated with the book or the author, but the book provides a really fascinating look at the insides of Nintendo as it rose to glory in the early nineties.
EDIT: The book I linked to is "Game Over Press Start To Continue" by David Sheff (for those who don't feel like clicking on the link)
Ok, cutting and pasting my own post from early in the year. (Sorry about the formatting.) I originally composed this for a friend who claimed he was ready to work on chess for 20 hours/week. I don't think he's kept it up.
-----------------------------------------------------
Here's what I recently emailed someone in the same situation as you - well, his goal was year-end.
If you STUDY chess for 15-20 hours/week for a year, you should be 2000 strength by the end of the year, and 2200 (I expect - much better than me) by the end of next year. Studying is the same as for math and music - it does not include leisure time like playing blitz.
You can break down your chess study into five buckets:
Tactics (start now and continue forever)
Endings (start in April and continue)
Playing/competing (start in February / start reading in July)
Strategy/middlegame planning (start in August and continue)
Openings (start in November and continue)
I think you need to begin them in that order - overlapping, of course.
[1] Tactics - do these books in order. DO the problems, however long it takes - don't look up an answer until you have a solid solution. If the books offer clues on the page (e.g. this page is all pins and skewers), go through and black them out with a marker in advance.
[2] Endings
[3] Playing/competing Play slow games, at time controls of Game/60 to Game/120, preferably against stronger players. Keep score, then analyze and annotate those games in depth, without using a computer. Then go over the games and your analysis with a stronger player, e.g. bring it to Sunday chess club.
I should really stress this - chess is about playing, not just studying. You need to find a variety of strong players, not just computers, and play against them. You might also consider playing correspondence.
If you play in tournaments during this time, DO NOT THINK ABOUT YOUR RATING. Also, NEVER offer or accept a draw, EVEN if the option is losing. During the next two years, your only goal is to learn and improve. Learning comes from playing on.
After a few months of playing and analyzing slow games, read these books:
By "read" I mean go through them slowly, doing every exercise, thinking about every comment to every game. It's hard work.
[4] Strategy/planning
[5] http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Chess-Opening-Repertoire/dp/1901983897 [How to Build Your Chess Opening Repertoire]
Of course someone else could construct an equally valid study plan with hundreds of entirely different books, but ... the ones I've chosen are excellent, and I strongly believe that they are sufficient.
I don't mention computers very much. I think they can be most useful as sparring partners for learning your basic endings and (eventually) openings. But don't let your study center around computers or opening databases or internet blitz.
And of course ... don't let it stop being fun. :-) Maybe that's where some blitz comes in. Otherwise, what's the point?
Game Over - The original and still the definitive. Anyone who thinks Nintendo is in trouble should read this - Nintendo has already looked trouble in the eye and punched it in the mouth.
Pathfinder Pawns might be a good start.
Monster Codex Pawns
Beastiary Box Pawns
If you're playing 5E they won't match up exactly, but $30 for 300 "minis" ain't bad. Otherwise start dropping $120 a brick for the official minis or check ebay for the occasional lot of prepainted plastics. They seem to be around $1-2 each at the moment.
Pawn Structure Chess by Soltis is a classic
It's not a documentary but give this is a read (you can get an ebook still), it has a lot of stories from WoW development. https://www.amazon.com/WoW-Diary-Journal-Computer-Development/dp/B07LB927QF?fbclid=IwAR3hf4mrNzKwDnmATocxhYtsCJCw_czUltlIuMk3YPFVDkvJwv59k1Pc8Is
I believe it was Philidor who said "Pawns are the soul of chess," and that is definitely true. As for knowing how they work, that's a bit tricky.
There are a lot of books out there on pawn structure chess (such as this one: http://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/1849940703)
But in my opinion, I think you have to understand the pieces very well before you should start tackling pawn movements. For instance, does the position call for to rip open the center by trading pawns (in situations where you are ahead in development or have bishops vs knights), or should I lock up the center and not trade the pawns off there (in a situation of knights vs bishops)? Or on another level, does this pawn move negate the possibility for him to get a defender to this square B that would defend square A?
But back to the pieces. I think a solid understanding on bishops vs knights games, developmental advantages, knowing when to pawn storm, etc. will allow you someone to better understand when pawn moves may be beneficial or harmful to their position. A good book for learning this kind of info is Reassess Your Chess by IM Jeremy Silman. It's not solely about pawns, but you learn a lot of indirect knowledge about pawns through reading it that allows for the understanding of certain pawn moves. After that I would possibly move to pawn specific books if you want to further your knowledge.
TL;DR - make sure you understand the pieces/positions and you can derive if a pawn move might be beneficial or harmful
I like [Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416903674/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_J.hbvb1Y573VG). Of course the best I've finished is 40ish in local casino tourney :-)
The pawn structure is talking to you. It's telling you exactly where the pieces belong. Just listen, if necessary calculate, and make it so.
Each pawn structure dictates a different plan, so it is often difficult to generalize what to do in the absence of tactics for "all cases." You can start to generalize when you see big overarching patterns and techniques, but this is the stuff of decades of study.
A well heralded book on this is [Pawn Structure Chess] (http://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/1849940703) by Andy Soltis.
Edit:
An example is pawn rams. Eg 1.d4 d5. You have only 3 plans that work. Flank on the c file, flank on e file, or bite down on the center (c3, e3, Nf3, Bb2) and once the center is secure play for complete wing attacks/pawn storms (as you may know, wing attacks are best stopped by attacks in the center, hence the intense defense of the center).
Consequently, Nc3/Nc6 before moving the c pawn is very bad in most d pawn games because it's slows or eliminates two of the three plans, so you MUST play for an e pawn break.
This strategic info won't help you much in most Sicilian games.
I like Sit 'n Go Strategy by Colin Moshman. Great for online sit-and-gos and tournament-style home games.
The story is written in this book and would make a good comedy/spy thriller hybrid if done well.
Check out this book if you're interested in the development of the game. The World of Warcraft Diary - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LB927QF/
This is a fantastic book, but probably not for complete beginners. Maybe from (approximatively) 12k up to 1 dan, altough I think weaker players can enjoy it too.
Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go
Similarly, I would also reccommend The Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were.
One of my favorite books as a kid with great stories of all kinds of mythology and beautiful (and some incredibly creepy) illustrations.
I suck at go and am definitely lower ranked than you. But I have a copy of Second Book of Go that I flip through from time to time and my impression is that it is a good survey of all the various topics one might need to improve at to get really good at Go.
https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891
You've made a great choice deciding you want to play this game. It's awesome.
The above book (it's a 5 part series) was my introduction and was very helpful for helping me get stronger. See my posts in :
https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/bed32g/learn_to_play_go_post_brain_tumor_surgery_version/el76mlm/?context=8&depth=9 (click "show parent comments" to see the whole conversation)
Also, I would recommend playing online, you can get more progress by playing (and reviewing) games with real people. I recommend KGS, the Kiseido Go Server, it's a pretty social Go server, so there's almost always people who will review your games with you, if you ask. I'm on there as LeGoSam if you'd like me to teach you, although I'm not too strong. \^\^
Anyway, I hope I can help this way!
Here's a nice book with a set of Algorithmic Puzzles that you can practice on. The book actually touches on an important point. Algorithmic thinking is not solely the domain of computer science or programming; it's a general problem solving topic.
Also, to echo some of the other comments here, it's not the CS degree that will make you better, it's the practice. The four years spent getting a CS degree merely forces you to practice a lot. The key point here though is that you can practice regardless of the CS degree (or pursuit of) which means if you've got some spare time, practice!
The Second Book of Go helped me a lot.
If you're serious about limit play, besides what has already been mentioned (which are great), give these two a read:
Small Stakes Hold 'em (partly authored by Sklansky) and
Texas Hold 'em for advanced players
Both awesome reads, and give you a lot of math and feel for the game. They are more geared towards limit, but the concepts you learn, like pot odds, etc., apply to other games as well. Good luck at the tables!
> The WoW Diary by John Staats.
https://www.amazon.com/WoW-Diary-Journal-Computer-Development/dp/B07LB927QF
could try: gardner and moscow. But I'm not sure if thats what you're looking for.
You could pick up the PE study book for your subject.
Have you heard of Project Euler
It's not directly about Miyamoto, but this book is probably the best "Miyamoto biography" that exists.
There's a book called An Incomplete Education that is made for people just like you! I love it!
Pep talk: Better luck next time, fish. Dogecoin is cheap now. Head over to /r/dogecoinbeg if selling plasma doesn't pan out for you.
Resources: Best Book on Poker Ever Written (at first blush it may seem to be about hold'them but just double whatever he says and you got PLO strat ldo)
This is probably the best place for you to tell your story and get real help on shedding your degen past. I honestly just see trolls replying to this /r/poker thread, which won't help you much.
Thanks for the doge,
Looked Eighteen to Me
Colin Moshmons 'Sit 'n Go Strategy' helped me in the beginning. Lee Nelson and Tyson Strieb's 'Kill Everyone' is also very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Everyone-Strategies-Tournaments-Sit-n-gos/dp/0929712471
http://www.amazon.com/Sit-Go-Strategy-Collin-Moshman/dp/1880685396/ref=pd_sim_b_18
Bitch, that is Jon Motherfucking Finkel. The Finkeltron. Yes, he's a crazy genius.
He told you about the magic. Did he tell you about being on the MIT blackjack team making more in a week than you do in a year? Did he tell you about his sports betting network?
This guy is millions and millions of dollars waiting to happen (I imagine he's a millionaire now).
For those that want to know more, read this amazing book.
Pick up the book The Second Book of Go.
http://www.amazon.com/Second-Book-Beginner-Elementary-Books/dp/4906574319
Save some time with a primer/survey of most if not all those disciplines and then some...An Incomplete Education by Judy Jones and William Wilson.
https://www.amazon.com/Incomplete-Education-Revised-Judy-Jones/dp/0345391373
Not a lot out there (that I know of) focuses on the fall half, but I feel like you'd appreciate these:
From For Amusement Only: the life and death of the American Arcade by The Verge
Replay: The History of Video Games
The Arcade Experience: A Look Into Modern Arcade Games and Why They Still Matter
Game Over: Press Start To Continue, The Maturing of Mario
Don't worry about openings for now. You can have perfect opening knowledge and still get killed by weak players with a basic grasp of tactics and an ability to find threats. Those areas are the starting point.
To that end, assuming you know the rules already, and can read chess notation, start with a VERY simple book on tactics. Go through "Simple Checkmates" by A. J. Gilliam (Amazon link) seriously at least seven times--preferably about 10 to 20 times--until you can instantly see the right move in each diagram.
Learning chess is all about building up your knowledge of basic patterns, and I've yet to find a book that gives such a good grounding in the most fundamental and important of these basic patterns.
More advanced (but still cheap) books that are good for learning to see patters in chess would be 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate, by Fred Reinfeld (ignore any books of his that don't consist of just diagrams, though) and the excellent Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions, by Lev Alburt.
I found Winning Chess Strategies, by Yasser Seirawan helpful as an introduction to strategy when I first started out, but some people think his writing style is more suitable for kids.
How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess-Mastery Course, by Jeremy Silman or The Amateur's Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery, also by Silman are big touchstones for chess learners in the late-beginner phase. A less-known author that I highly recommend is C. J. S. Purdy. He wrote quite a while ago, but he's incredibly insightful in teaching amateurs to break bad chess habits and generally understand how to think in chess. Here's an Amazon search result for his books. (By the way, I don't necessarily endorse Amazon as the best place to buy chess books, but the links are convenient.)
Main thing is, get the basics down. Build up the basic patterns. Go over the simpler diagrams over and over until you know them cold. Then move on to strategy, more advanced tactics and endgames, then worry about openings.
SitNGo Wizard
I would also recommend the Sit 'n Go Strategy book by Collin Moshman.
The Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were
Algorithmic Puzzles
The Angry GM did a very good article recently on metagaming. (If you're unfamiliar with Angry, he has a very different style than most gaming writers. If you're able to get past his "f&%$s" and "s@#&s," you'll find some very well researched and reasoned advice, and some good humor as well.)
I've been actively DMing for about four or five months now, and one of my players is the group's original DM and a DM for a Roll20 group. She uses the more prevalent definition of "metagaming," while I use Angry's, and it's been an interesting transition in the group.
Essentially, if the players are able to come to the correct conclusion about a major part of the storyline, while circumventing all of the deflections and delays I had put in their path (as happened recently), I don't see any reason to punish that. I rewarded that player with additional XP for clever thinking, even if I had to jump well passed what I had planned. If the bard knows a monster's weakness, they probably heard about it in some ballad. If one player acts on information on another player that they haven't formally discussed in character at the table, well, they've been traveling together for the better part of a year in game; the characters must have talked about it in the would-be-boring travel scenes that I gloss over.
As far as the monster inventory situation is concerned, I recommend getting some Pathfinder Pawns (I've linked to the two boxes I have on Amazon). They let you surprise your players with a huge variety of them. If you go on Paizo's website, you can buy printable versions for cheaper. The art is pretty good, and it's hard to beat the variety you get for your dollar.
In the end, everyone has a different playing style. I prefer to resolve differences when I can. Encourage some frank, open discussion at the table and away from it. If you can't resolve your different styles with your roommate, it might be best if they don't continue with the group. The overall group's fun level is really the deciding factor.
> Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were
You can browse inside that book at Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/dp/0140100083
If you're aiming to compete, try doing all of the following if you can:
&nbsp;
1- Find a chess teacher. A rating above 2000 is preferred
&nbsp;
2- Get Chess books that teach the basics of tactics, strategy, and endgame.
&nbsp;
3- Make an account on Chesstempo.com and start solving tactics
&nbsp;
4- Play many rapid games online. Chess.com allows you to play for free
&nbsp;
5-For book recommendations : Endgame/
Middlegame
-As for opening, you really need a mentor to guide you in choosing the best opening for you. If you want to learn some opening, this is a good basic book
He did, or at least, someone wrote one about him - http://www.amazon.com/Jonny-Magic-Card-Shark-Kids/dp/1400064074
Good book.
The classic text on pawns is Kmoch's Pawn Power in Chess. Soltis has a similar book titled Pawn Structure Chess, but as the title implies it is more focused on various pawn structures.
I'm on the same road. I'm not really good, but I'm working on it.
Read books such as Reassess Your Chess. Watch/listen to some great commentary at [Killegar Chess on YouTube](
http://www.youtube.com/user/SeanGGodley). Play different people frequently (online chess is great for this).
I have a copy of The Moscow Puzzles. Some of the puzzles are easy and some are really hard! You can buy it for pretty cheap online.
Also, I'm surprised some hasn't said Satan, Cantor, and Infinity yet! It's a fun one, laid out like a story, and mostly deals with mathematical logic as opposed to algebra, geometry, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Brown-Paper-School-book-Smarty/dp/0316117390
I'd also like to suggest Algorithmic Puzzles.
My favorite is "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go", by far!
I got a lot out of the following books:
Opening Theory Made Easy As its title suggests, this is limited to the opening but is still a great way to improve your game and easy for beginners to comprehend. I think I first read through this when I was around 17-18k and got a lot out of it. It's not about josekis but moreso principles to keep in mind in the beginning with a lot of great examples and explanations.
Second Book of Go This book was essentially tailor-made for people like you looking to proceed from elementary materials. The only problem is it seems to be out of print. I picked it up for about $20 2 years ago but I can't find it for under $100 on either Amazon or GoGameGuru.
Learn to Play Go Volume II This is part of a 5 book set that is pretty hit-or-miss for me. Volume I is good but probably covers the same materials as Go For Beginners. Volume II is a nice overview of the major extensions from stones (one point jump, knight's move, etc.) with a 20-25 assessment section at the end. Learn to Play Go Volume III isn't very good but I thought Volumes IV and V in the series were worth buying.
Go by Example This is the only book on my list written by a non-pro (well actually I don't think Richard Bozulich ever played professionally but the guy is responsible for the English translation of every go book ever and has written a fair share on his own so I'm guessing he's a decently strong player) and I think he's around an 8k or something, or at least was last time I checked. He plays online and has some specific insights for people playing online (such as not following the pace of your opponent) and reviews games he found on KGS. It has a bunch of examples and analysis and takes a different approach than the other older books I listed.
Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go You'll probably get more out of this once you're at around 16k or so but it's widely considered the best book on go. Plus Kageyama is a pretty entertaining (and very opinionated) writer. Covers all aspects of the game.
Not exactly, this is a problems book. I'm looking for something about puzzles, like The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations or The Gödelian Puzzle Book: Puzzles, Paradoxes and Proofs.
I think this is what you're looking for
If you have an iPad, it might be a bit soon, but SmartGo Kifu has a ton of graded problems. And it's never too soon to look at pro games. You don't have to study them, but it's better to play through them then watch random games on IGS/KGS.
For a book about the core foundations of go, Kageyama's Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go.
Since no one has tossed out this idea yet, I would look into Janice Kim's books as well http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1372733697&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=janice+kim. They are well organized and concise. More appropriate for you if you're just looking for broad points about the game. If you've decided to get compulsively stronger though, then you will definitely need other books.
And if you're feeling overwhelmed by all the suggestions, my question to you is how serious you are about the game. If this is just for fun and casual play, definitely start with Janice Kim's book. Most of the other advice given is for players looking to become as strong a player as possible.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.
When I was younger, I had Math for smarty pants. It was a very good introduction to a lot of different topics presented in a fun way.
http://www.amazon.com/Brown-Paper-School-book-Smarty/dp/0316117390
My recommendation: read the Second Book of Go and get on IGS and play a lot of games.
It's £29 for the monster box, which has ~300 pawns in it, so you're paying a really small amount per pawn.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/
This particular box has:
I'm not entirely sure where £36 is coming from, but I have a feeling you might have looked at the actual bestiary- the pathfinder monster manual- rather than the pawns.
Bestiary 1 is more expensive, but that's due to it being out of print atm if I remember.
Starting hands should be similar.
Major difference between no limit and limit is you will get a lot more people in the pot in limit to the flop and beyond, thus your pre-flop strength has less value over all. You can also call a little bit looser in position with a wider range of hands if you have the right odds. If you are interested in grinding limit, this is pretty much the bible on low stakes limit poker: http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-Hold-Winning-Expert/dp/1880685329/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1371530556&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=low+limit+holdem
I followed that book concerning odds and such and have been playing for a living since.
There is also a difference in that you can push more people off drawing hands in no-limit by large bets, and you can't really do that in limit. I also find that in general, you can't bluff nearly as much either, because depending on the table, you almost always get called to the river by at least one person.
The I HATE MATHEMATICS! Book
Math for Smarty Pants
I remember picking up both of these books at -some- point during elementary school book fairs. I have always really liked math, but they do have some interesting topics and random facts. The topics are always pretty short - I remember quite a few on statistics in various forms. I'm not sure they would 100% work for what you are looking for but they might be able to form springboards for projects?
These aren't novels, but I really enjoyed these books around that age:
The I Hate Mathematics Book
Math for Smarty Pants
They taught me a lot of fun math puzzles and concepts for the first time (prime numbers, perfect numbers, basic combinatorics, math magic tricks), each with a bit of a story attached.
Very first thing - you need to be aware of ladders!
Kageyama says "If you want to capture stones, hold up two fingers and say to yourself: 'Can I capture with the net?' and 'Can I capture with the ladder?'"
Ladders are really easy - they're an unbranching sequence - so you should learn them and avoid embarrassment like the sequence starting at 16. You run into this repeatedly in the game - even if you don't see the ladder right off, you should recognize early that you're in one and stop and play somewhere else.
Even more important, you should always be thinking of trying to join your stones together. Time and again your opponent cuts you!
You also allow your opponent to control what's happening. If you're going to lose one or two stones, ignore them - play somewhere else that takes a lot of territory.
And play a lot of games!
Good luck...
A large part of the reason a number of successful Magic players go on to the professional poker circuit is that a lot of the skills one picks up competing in pro-level events are relevant to poker as well: bluffing, detecting a bluff, reading into your opponent's play to determine what they're holding, etc. See: Johnny Magic and the Card Shark Kids among others.
The Chessmaster program is indeed awesome. Fritz is better for serious play, or so I've been told, but there is all sorts of helpful stuff on Chessmaster for beginning/intermediate players.
My personal favorite chess book is Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman. You won't find any "White to move and mate in 3" business. You won't find a bunch of sparsely annotated GM games, either. Instead, it gets into good depth on the tactics and strategy of the middle game. I really suggest it, it offers very useful methods of understanding the foundations of chess, recognizing imbalances, creating plans to exploit those imbalances, that kind of stuff. Fair warning, though, beginners might find it useful but I've found you need to have your feet a little wet to get the most out of the book.
Two things. First, to learn, playgo.to will teach you the very basics of the game. Then, play a few games just to get an idea of how little you understand of the game.
When you're done, get yourself the very aptly named Second Book of Go by Richard Bozulich. It'll give you a quick overview of the most important concepts : the opening, life and death, joseki, etc.
Oh, and doing go problems will help you a lot.
From there, well, you're on your own. :) See you on KGS !
I'm surprised no one has mentioned How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman yet. I've linked to the previous edition, which is much cheaper (since you mentioned you didn't want to spend a lot more money). I found this book tremendously helpful in figuring out what to be thinking about when faced with a position on the board that doesn't have an obvious tactic or hanging piece.
Essentially, if you really want to get better at planning, there is simply no substitute for playing and analysing several games (as others have said). Chess is exceedingly difficult and requires significant effort; there's no way around it.
Not a video or documentary, but probably the best: https://www.amazon.com/WoW-Diary-Journal-Computer-Development/dp/B07LB927QF
John Staats built like half of vanilla wow's dungeons and raids so there's a good chunk of map design in there.
edit: ebook version available here if that's more your style.
Link to the book on Amazon for those who care: https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Fundamentals-Beginner-Elementary-Books/dp/4906574289/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Lessons+in+the+Fundamentals+of+Go&qid=1564164912&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Sorry, typo. I meant Kageyama
As I said, I do not have the Colossal Book, so I can't make comparisons.
The CD contains the PDF of these books:
What I did mean is that the CD contains the scans of these 15 books, not the scans of the original columns appeared in Scientific American.
Another book worth considering is "The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations" that, if I remember correctly, contains only puzzles, not diversions as in the case of Martin Gardner books.
A lot of these are from the WoW Diary by John Staats, which came out in the last couple of months for Kickstarter backers, and should be available on Amazon soon-ish
https://www.amazon.com/WoW-Diary-Journal-Computer-Development/dp/B07LB927QF
It's a really amazing compendium on the development of WoW from '99-'04, and reads very easily. I'd highly recommend it.
A nice slow(-ish) introduction to Go is from Janice Kim and Soo-Hyun Jeong:
Learn to Play Go: A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game (Volume I) (Learn to Play Go Series). It was the book that helped Go click for me.
Algorithm Puzzles might fit your needs.
The Art of Computer Programming, as I understand it, uses assembly language for a imaginary processor to teach algoritms.
You could also use the time to practice designing programs; many schools teach programming by first teaching to design programs in psuedo-code without a computer.
http://www.amazon.com/An-Incomplete-Education-Revised-Edition/dp/0345391373
Covers all kinds of things on subjects you'd never study in school but which you sorta feel like you ought to know somehow.
You should read this instead imo.
www.amazon.com/Phil-Gordons-Little-Green-Book/dp/1416903674
If you're playing micro cash, check out The Poker Blueprint. Harrington is great for tourneys/SNGs but TBP is a very good micro cash game book. Also definitely read Sklansky if you haven't already.
If you're playing sit 'n go's, check out Sit 'n Go Strategy by Collin Moshman. A lot of what he discusses is in relation to high-stakes SNGs but several of the concepts are applicable to the micros.
How to Reassess Your Chess - If you can only read one book this is the one to read. Third edition is insanely cheap, but if you want to fork over the extra 20 get the 4th edition.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Reassess-Your-Chess-Chess-Mastery/dp/1890085006/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1483020174&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=how+to+reassess+your+chess
Chess and the Art of War is a fun read. Easy and precise.
https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Art-War-Ancient-Wisdom/dp/0785832815
The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations (Dover Recreational Math) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486270785/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_WQ.MwbMF4XZ4N
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhKkP8LryYM
https://www.amazon.com/WoW-Diary-Journal-Computer-Development/dp/B07LB927QF
Two things that might interest you
Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper from the Wonder Years, Elsie on West Wing) has written some books about math for girls. I haven't read them, but they've received a LOT of press, so it might be worth it. http://www.amazon.com/Danica-McKellar/e/B001JP7Z7G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
As a kid, my favorite was Math for Smarty Pants
Is it time life's The Encyclopedia of things that never were?
Kind of a longshot as the book was quite big but maybe the Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were?
Studying from books (Pawn Structure and Endgame) and analyzing my own games (WITHOUT an engine) are probably the two major factors in my growth in chess.
Soltis's Pawn Structure Chess and Silman's Complete Endgame Course are my two top recommendations.
I love books on gaming history. If you're interested, I'd recommend Steven Kent's Ultimate History of Video Games and David Sheff's Game Over
When I was a kid I LOVED math for smarty pants. Lots of fun problems and games presented by illustrated characters. Several of the reviewers mention using this book with 6th graders, so I'm not sure how that compares to your son's age. The amazon link has a preview of the book. Teaches you things like how to figure out which weekday (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) you were born using only the date and what comes after a trillion (quadrillion, quintillion, etc.)
Well, no real help from me, but:
Amazon? Lots of stuff there, especially if you don't mind 2D minis.
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1469029534&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=pathfinder+pawns
Personally I got them on Amazon EU. Dunno if it's just the stock but the prices there seems a bit lower.
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The Monster Codex is showing on Amazon US for like $27 here and most of the others can be found there as well for a moderately lower price.
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I will agree the one off price seems higher in comparison to say a small box of mini's for $10, but the mini per dollar value is just superb. You're looking at $0.10, per mini for one of the $30 dollar boxes, not including postage, as they average 250-300 tokens per box.
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If the price is putting you off there are a few ways you can have a similar effects making your own, assuming you have a printer. Example, just search about in the various DnD subreddits (/r/dndnext , /r/dnd, /r/DnDBehindTheScreen etc.) for paper craft mini's and such.
If you were not the beneficiary of a true liberal arts education, start with a copy of An Incomplete Education as a foundation.
http://www.amazon.com/An-Incomplete-Education-Revised-Edition/dp/0345391373
What you are looking for and much, much more.
We are starting regular tournaments for this subreddit, you have missed out this time but in a few weeks we will start afresh, you should join in, we have several beginners taking part, plus you will get your games reviewed.
Also join your local club, it'll work wonders for your interest.
As for books this series are great for getting your head around the first concepts, if you buy why not share with your friends to lower the costs?
Amazon link for "Math for Smarty Pants" by Marilyn Burns, with a "Look Inside" feature to see some of the book.
I didn't read this book until around 1995 or so, well after the book was originally published. I picked it up again at my university library for kicks - it's still a pretty amazing book! If you know a kid in the later years of grade school who's into math, you should definitely get them a copy of this.
EDIT: Obviously I was inspired by this thread, but this book is aimed more towards 9-12 year olds I feel.
TAG I guess. Read small stakes holdem it'll pay for itself a hundred times over if you apply what you learn.
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/dp/0140100083 ?
He has successfully been gaming casinos for years and has a book about his exploits. He also acts as managing partner of a hedge fund. It's not like MTG is his whole life.
If this AMA doesn't pan out I recommend Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids.
It's been a while but I remember it was a good read. This thread makes me nostalgic for my JSS days. I still have my DCI number memorized.
I heartily recommend Silman's Reassess Your Chess - it focuses on recognizing and imbalances and making plans to create or take advantage of them.
In general, if your opponent reacts during the opening in a way you didn't expect, you should spend some time figuring out why their move was 'wrong' - what imbalance it introduces, and why it is not part of the book.
Sure, here's one
The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations (Dover Recreational Math)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486270785/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_RBsqDbC246AYX
Algorithmic Puzzles. Reading about programming is dull. Doing is more fun, but you have already to know something. This book introduces algorithmic way of thinking without actual programming
https://www.amazon.com/Algorithmic-Puzzles-Anany-Levitin/dp/0199740445
From Game Over: Press Start to Continue by David Sheff:
> When the game was complete, Miyamoto had to name it. He consulted the company's export manager, and together they mulled over some possibilities. They decided that kong would be understood to suggest a gorilla. And since this fierce but cute kong was donkey-stubborn and wily (donkey, according to their Japanese/English dictionary, was the translation of the Japanese word for stupid or goofy), they combined the words and named the game "Donkey Kong."
I had a similar problem when I was starting out. I read [this](https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Masters-Guide-Ultimate/dp/1453632891/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1518124564&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=learn+to+play+go
) book and found I had a much better grasp of the game and was able to progress.
ok, so it's not like you are stuck at 20k after playing a few hundred games. This is really just about learning the fundamentals and practicing.
Personally, I like Janice Kim's "Learn to Play Go" series. http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891
They are simple, easy to read, and cover the information in a clear, progressive way. Most times I teach people, I have them go through the whole series twice while playing a few practice games a week and doing go problems. Usually by that time they are mid teen kyu and starting get grasp the strategy.
I also use Goproblems.com a lot. You need to learn strategy and tactics. Strategy you get from studying high level games, reading, watching videos. tactics you get from practicing, and goproblems help a ton here!
Good luck!
Good to hear it. you might consider springing for some custom heroforge minis for your players characters if/once you and your friends start a campaign that is going to be somewhat long-lasting, though they do cost a bit more.
if you are just starting and don't want to spring a ton of cash for minis, a good alternative is to get some packs of pathfinder pawns.
They're basically monsters printed on a piece of cardboard which you can stand upright in a plastic holder.
Though they are for pathfinder - that was basically built on the back of 3rd edition, and many of the creatures are the same or similar.
For example, a pack with 300(!) creature pawns will only run you ~30 dollars, which is a lot cheaper then what 300 actual 3d minis would run you :
http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1458153012&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=Pathfinder+Pawns
I'm a big fan of Janice Kim's Learn to Play Go series.
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891
I've read a certain small colored book which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in the topic.
Great AMA! Two questions:
The best book ever How to Reassess Your Chess. This is the best book to learn or refine your chess. Order the workbook too and when you're done you'll be able to compete at a much higher level.
do some puzzle books with him. sullyman's books are really fun as is this book
>https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891
>You've made a great choice deciding you want to play this game. It's awesome.
>The above book (it's a 5 part series) was my introduction and was very helpful for helping me get stronger. See my posts in :
>https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/bed32g/learn_to_play_go_post_brain_tumor_surgery_version/el76mlm/?context=8&amp;depth=9 (click "show parent comments" to see the whole conversation)
>Also, I would recommend playing online, you can get more progress by playing (and reviewing) games with real people. I recommend KGS, the Kiseido Go Server, it's a pretty social Go server, so there's almost always people who will review your games with you, if you ask. I'm on there as LeGoSam if you'd like me to teach you, although I'm not too strong. ^^
>Anyway, I hope I can help this way!
Thanks so much!
I don't know if it is always this cheap, but Pawn Structure Chess is $9.99 (54%off) https://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/1849940703/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1499901009&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=pawn+structure+chess
and The Power of Pawns is only $10.85 (46% off). https://www.amazon.com/Power-Pawns-Structure-Fundamentals-Post-beginners/dp/9056916319/ref=pd_sim_14_8?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=9056916319&amp;pd_rd_r=2NB6G793MR4NZ7GA7484&amp;pd_rd_w=wjDyC&amp;pd_rd_wg=6t1lq&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=2NB6G793MR4NZ7GA7484
Shove more often. Learn push/fold charts.
http://www.amazon.com/Sit-Go-Strategy-Collin-Moshman/dp/1880685396
There are lots of other Pathfinder pawn sets on Amazon.com at the moment, such as the Monster Codex Box for $30. The monsters for Pathfinder are pretty much the same as for D&D, since it's a version of D&D, so Wizards has no real reason to make their own it seems.
At price per mini, you might look at Pathfinder pawns: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1601257171/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_7u5azbKAZ4PBP
There are also lots of paper minis if you check out Pinterest, like this board: http://pin.it/CdYyBU1 just print on card stock and fold over or glue to a washer or penny to stand up. I also found some cool art and just used paint to copy it onto one of these sheets to make character minis
"An Incomplete Education".
A crash course on basically everything.
Wow, this is a fantastic list!! One book that I had been considering is Go For Beginners. There has been a lot of debate between that and Janice Kim's Learn to Play Go series. I'll be checking out a lot of these from the perspective of a completely new player. If you'd like, I can check back in with you periodically and let you know how they've worked for me, so you can know which ones to recommend (and not!) for any other new players you come across. Thank you again for the extensive list, this is a huge help!
Is it Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were: Creatures, Places, and People by Robert Ingpen and Michael Page?
Hands down https://www.amazon.com/Sit-Go-Strategy-Collin-Moshman/dp/1880685396/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292740998&sr=8-1
My favorite one is Phil Gordon's Little Green Book and his sequel, Little Blue Book.
Small Stakes Hold'em is the book you're looking for. I have won thousands in live play using these at small 2/4 to 6/12 tables... It's amazing how well their strategies work being that no-limit is illegal here in minnesota.
That's a weird one.
I've seen this version recommended; it doesn't have a Kindle version that I know of: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Press-Start-Continue/dp/0966961706/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481671222&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=Game+over
I have the Kindle edition of this version that is still in print: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Nintendo-Conquered-World-ebook/dp/B0060AY98I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481671157&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=game+over+how+nintendo+conquered+the+world.
I'm not sure how similar the content is between the two. The version out of print was published in 1999 and has chapters added by a different author. I suspect it is an updated edition of the version that is still in print.
This is a cool book:
https://www.amazon.com/Moscow-Puzzles-Mathematical-Recreations-Recreational/dp/0486270785
This book is all about low-limit live strategy. $2/$4 - $5/$10 limit specifically.
For tournament play:
Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed
I'm a tight-aggresive player who wanted to learn what goes on in the mind of a good maniac tournament player like Gus. I use to blind away to often and rarely built large stacks needed in tournament play. This book changed my perception of tournament play and opened me up to new ideas. The book covers every hand Gus played in an Aussie millions tournament that he won.
http://www.amazon.com/Every-Hand-Revealed-Gus-Hansen/dp/0818407271/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1342041880&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=gus+hansen
For low limit hold'em:
Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play
It's a great guide on how to crush the low-limit no fold'em hold'em game.
http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-Hold-Winning-Expert/dp/1880685329/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1342041767&amp;sr=8-11&amp;keywords=poker+low+limit
http://www.amazon.com/Algorithmic-Puzzles-Anany-Levitin/dp/0199740445
for practical applications of algorithms.
I agree with the Cormen book suggestion, as I hear a lot about it.
The slot is specifically for the Pathfinder cardboard pawns, which are really good if you want a lot of figures for cheap. Each box contains roughly 50 or more monsters and/or NPCs, that fit snuggly in their bases, and cost roughly $35-50 USD per box. [Here's an example of the most recent pawn box.] (http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pawns-Monster-Codex-Box/dp/1601257171/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1453164499&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=pathfinder+pawns)
The boxes usually come with bases included. I probably wouldn't worry about adding the vertical slot to the base, unless you want an easy way to shove in printouts.
Speaking of bases, do you plan on sharing your models? I'd be interested in trying to get some printed out myself as they'd be good generic token holders.
This book blew my mind time and again growing up. Though 13 may be a little old for the book, it's certainly a great read for children who show a love of math.
http://www.amazon.com/Phil-Gordons-Little-Green-Book/dp/1416903674 might prove a useful first step to getting your head screwed on right.
For some great comp sci style thinking puzzles without the computer, this is crazy fun. From bring up at party casual to mind meltingly difficult. Algorithmic Puzzles https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199740445/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_AeMzwbE3NJARB
Example: if you can only fit two pancakes on your griddle, what's the fastest way to make three pancakes?
I really like to "find" music,
I enjoy puzzles,
Ask me about my milkshake,
Mozzarella is my favorite cheese &
I am a computer science major
Edit: formatting edit.
Read this book:
The Second Book of Go, what you need to know after you've learned the rules.
For anyone who's interested with learning more about Nintendo, I suggest reading Game Over Press Start To Continue. It's actually a really great read.
If you want to play STTs try the course here:
http://www.sitandgoplanet.com/16-per-hour-sng-blueprint.html
Also Colin Moshman has a great book on STTs:
http://www.amazon.com/Sit-Go-Strategy-Collin-Moshman/dp/1880685396
http://www.amazon.com/An-Incomplete-Education-Revised-Edition/dp/0345391373
Maybe check out The Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were by Robert Ingpen & Michael Page, I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's a very broad book covering a lot of historical folklore/myths :)
Not quite
I would start with your HUD start to understand everything in there VPIP, CB, FCB stuff like this teaches you what to look for in a live game reading players, understanding what range and position is. There is no one class that will teach you all of this it has to be learned one piece at a time. Anything on YouTube is normally junk but look up pot equity vs hand equity vs fold equity. All this should give you the basics of poker to get your head above water at least. You can't play poker now a days without understanding this basic stuff or else you'll keep giving your money away or people will read you like a book! Let us know if there is anything specific you want to know. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on here. But read books and books and books. 2+2 has amazing low stakes poker book
Small Stakes Hold'em https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1880685329/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_192QBbF8962F1
this is a great book to start on. It's actually tells you real information that's helpful
He already has.
http://www.amazon.com/Jonny-Magic-Card-Shark-Kids/dp/1400064074