Go by Example: Correcting common mistakes in double digit kyu play [Paperback]

(This review may include some weird phrases due to the fact that I'm no native English speaker, please excuse this.)
Neil Moffatts book fills what in my opinion is a gap in the literature on Go strategy and tactics. While there are a lot of good books for absolute beginners and a lot of good books suitable for single-digit-kyu- or even dan-players, every player staying in the horrible state of being around 16 to 11 kyu yearns for help to improve her playing after knowing the basic rules and moves. It's a phase where you begin to see the light but end up feeling doomed very often. But even the books who aim at this target group - at least the ones I know - are quite different to this one in at least two aspects.
First, Moffatt's book does not only show you some reasonable ways of payling in the opening, mid- and endgame. Indeed every ddk-player surely knows that there are better ways of playing, thinking and fighting. Furthermore this book takes the beginners by the hand and lets them recognize themselves in the errors they make. Thus they can see what blunder they play, but they also understand that there are common mistakes that most players experience during their first steps. The book gives examples from real games - mostly from the KGS-server I cannot recommend enough for online playing - shows common mistakes and gives advice how to correct them. This way of training may just be what the especially helps ddk-players to improve.
Second, each of the diagrams in this book shows only one move at a time, the next move being displayed in the following diagram. (The usual way of course is to display a series of numbered stones in one diagram which let's you follow the game in your imagination or play it after on a board.) This way the student will see the playing evolve without knowing of the more or less rational structures that will result at the end. Sure an advanced player won't need this kind of diagrams because she is already good at reading and imagining of possibilities. And while it would be useless to print games and moves in that way generally, it is - in my opinion - a perfect way to teach a progressing beginner.
The book concentrates on two aspects: The first is improving your game by finding out about weaknesses (as over cautious play, narrow vision, not being aware of liberties of groups and the connection of stones etc.). The second part covers some ideas on how to move towards the single digit kyu player rank once you know about mistakes. You then have to know something about common moves (Joseki) and advanced life and death problems (in capturing races etc.). This part also has a useful addendum of life-and-death-status of common shapes.
I am still (stuck) within the middle of the target group of this book but it helped me to feel more relaxed and a bit like home there, that should be good foundation for further emancipation, because I have not intention to stay there forever. That said, regarding the innovative idea of teaching, the form of representation, the highly enjoyable style of writing and judging and - last but not least - the price I give my highest recommandation for this book.

Learning Go as a beginner is difficult for many reasons. One of them is that gaining experience by playing is a very slow process : it's not easy to find stronger players to play with, reviewing a whole game takes a lot of time, and a beginner might find it not easy to understand deeply enough the learned lessons to remember them and apply them in similar situations in real games. This become particularly difficult in mid-double digit kyus.

That's where Go by Example written by Neil Moffatt fills a much welcome spot for mid-beginners which was not covered by any book so far : showing actual mistakes from real games and explaining how to avoid them.

It looks easy and unconventional at first sight : no long theories, no complicated diagrams, no Go problems, only examples. But there are really a lot of examples, and all of them have been carefully selected from actual mid-beginners' games. They are organized in chapters which each illustrates a general principle. The author shows frequent crucial mistakes, and every time he details how they arise, how they could have been avoided and what could have been a good play instead.

This could seem tedious and long, but is actually very clear, concise and easy to understand, because one of the strengths of the book is its innovative way of showing games : cluttered numbered diagrams are replaced by step-by-step sequences shown in detail. This makes a big difference for a beginner, since the book can be read anywhere without the need of reproducing the game on a real Goban.

In addition, the style is enjoyable to read even for non native English speakers, the book itself is of high quality with a nice layout, beautiful diagrams, good paper and printing quality, all at a very affordable price.

All in all, the book is the equivalent of a sum of teaching games lessons which can also be used as a reference book for the mid-beginner, and it can only be highly recommended.

I purchased this after reading 'Learn Go' by the same author (which has too many typo's!). It is a really well presented book for beginner to (lower end)intermediate level players. Clear and concise explanations and, most importantly, lots of diagrams so you don't have to memorize board positions. Highly recommended and a bargain at the price.