Book Description
Why has one game, alone among the thousands of games invented and played throughout human history, not only survived but thrived within every culture it has touched? What is it about its thirty-two figurative pieces, moving about its sixty-four black and white squares according to very simple rules, that has captivated people for nearly 1,500 years? Why has it driven some of its greatest players into paranoia and madness, and yet is hailed as a remarkably powerful intellectual tool?
Nearly everyone has played chess at some point in their lives. Its rules and pieces have served as a metaphor for society, influencing military strategy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and literature and the arts. It has been condemned as the devil’s game by popes, rabbis, and imams, and lauded as a guide to proper living by other popes, rabbis, and imams. Marcel Duchamp was so absorbed in the game that he ignored his wife on their honeymoon. Caliph Muhammad al-Amin lost his throne (and his head) trying to checkmate a courtier. Ben Franklin used the game as a cover for secret diplomacy.
In his wide-ranging and ever-fascinating examination of chess, David Shenk gleefully unearths the hidden history of a game that seems so simple yet contains infinity. From its invention somewhere in India around 500 A.D., to its enthusiastic adoption by the Persians and its spread by Islamic warriors, to its remarkable use as a moral guide in the Middle Ages and its political utility in the Enlightenment, to its crucial importance in the birth of cognitive science and its key role in the aesthetic of modernism in twentieth-century art, to its twenty-first-century importance in the development of artificial intelligence and use as a teaching tool in inner-city America, chess has been a remarkably omnipresent factor in the development of civilization.
Customer Reviews:
The World of Chess Through a Telescope... .......2007-10-02
and what an interesting world it is. An insightful look at the history, pyschology, philosophy, and implications for the future of the world's oldest and greatest game.
This book should please chess lovers, as it is a rare thing in the crowded gamut of chess books... a broad survey of the game. Many of us play the game, and we study chess books and chess software, we play computer progams and human opponents, but perhaps we do not stop to look at the game from a distance. This book does that for us. And there is much we can learn, in my opinion.
Mr. Shenk is a talented and capable writer, and he has done his work well. He builds on his personal relationship with the game. While he is not an avid player, his great great great grandfather was a Grandmaster. The book is a fun to read and a page turner, and while it delights, it also instructs. Not so much as how to play the game, but perhaps why.
Chess is the world's 3rd biggest sport. It was supposed to be killed by the computer - and yet paradoxically the computer has greatly enhanced the game. It is one of the oldest games and yet it defies mastery. This book looks at this and more, from wacky Grandmasters to precocious school kids and dedicated patzers. It examines the history of chess in ancient Persia, to Bobby Fischer versus Spassky in Iceland to Big Blue versus Kasparof in New York.
Most chess books place the game of chess under a "microscope" - they analyze one specific aspect of the game, by breaking the game into pieces with diagrams and algebraic notion. This book is so welcome and necessary because it looks at the big picture of chess... from a distance, through the years, chess through a "telescope".
My only critique is that I wish the book had been even longer!
This book will be of interest to all, from chess expert to novice to the non-player who merely wants an entertaining education about the world's greatest game.
SImply Outstanding!.......2007-09-17
What an outstanding read - part documentary, history, biography and mystery novel. David Shenk has stimulated all of my mental faculities by writing was is arguably one of the most compelling chess history book ever written. From Novice to Grand Master, lots of good moves within this read. Thank you for a job well done!
A personal and rather shallow book.......2007-08-19
Readers looking for a decent history of chess won't find it in this book. They will find a highly personal account of the author's chess experiences and rather indulgent reflections on those experiences, and a grab-bag of topics with some historical connection to chess - but treated in a superficial and almost journalistic style.
The last chapter (Chess and the future of human intelligence) is particularly trivial. Shenk observes a group of kids in an American Chess in Schools program. It is pure mawkisness - perhaps I should say silliness. Dialog is recorded verbatim. Portentious claims are made.
What makes the book interesting is that Shenk intersperses a famous chess game (The Immortal Game between Anderssen and Kieseritzky in 1851) among the otherwise forgettable chapters. One rushes through the chapters just to get to the next phase of this gripping chess game. This was an excellent device to inject interest into what could easily have been a dry, technical account.
The book will interest readers with no knowledge of chess, but who are curious about it and just want an entertaining and interesting read with minimum intellectual demands upon them. Readers who want a more scholarly and coherent account of chess should look elsewhere.
A Fun, Not Technical, Chess History -- and MORE!!.......2007-07-08
When I got this book, my wife took one look at the title and laughed. "A history of chess? Have fun with that." A lot of people will think that about this book, and that's a shame. The Immortal Game is far more than a history of chess.
Shenk does cover a lot of the history of chess. He traces the roots of the game to the Middle East, and traces its spread throughout Europe. But he traces the history of chess through how it is used - chess is used as a metaphor throughout history, and what it serves as a metaphor for tells us a lot about each time period.
Muslims enjoyed chess because it was not a game of chance. It emphasized the idea of personal responsibility and free will over strict determinism and fatalism. Medieval Christians embraced this symbolism as well, even as they changed the pieces to suit their own society (the Elephant of the Muslim game became the Bishop in Christian Europe, for example). Shenk tells of a Dominican monk who wrote what many consider the most influential chess book of all time -- Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium as popularium sive super ludo sacchorum -- which translates as The Book of Morals of Men and the Dutie of Nobles and Commoners, or On The Game of Chess.
Shenk sees chess as a metaphor for life, and the responsibilities of each member of society. He goes so far as to justify the movement of each piece by the role its namesake played in society. Even today, chess is used by psychologists studying human thought processes and how intelligence develops. Computer scientists teach their supercomputers chess in an effort to simulate human consciousness and develop truly artificial intelligence. Elementary school children are taught chess to develop creative thinking skills. Each era adopts chess as its own metaphor, and the game continues to flourish.
Interspersed with the history of the game, Shenk offers a play-by-play of "The Immortal Game," a practice game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kiesseritzky in 1851. The game began as something of little consequence, played between two acquaintances as they were waiting for the next game of their match, but quickly became something of note. The game has been studied by chess students ever since - Kiesseritzky even published a report in his own chess magazine immediately after it was over.
The Immortal Game is a history of the game of chess, but it's more than just a history. It's an attempt to answer the question, why chess? What has made this game so popular? Why has it lasted for over a thousand years? It's a study of the use of metaphor throughout history. It's a discussion of what intelligence really is. And it's an encouragement to novice chess players all over the world that there is a reason to study this game.
We're living through a mini golden age for chess literature.......2007-03-22
There have been a number of chess books published recently, most of them in expensive hardback format: Bobby Fischer vs. Russians, Kasparov's My Illustrious Predecessors, even Shahade's uneven Chess Bitch. Now add to those titles The Immortal Game, a great overview of chess by David Shenk. The author became interested in chess rather late, and he'll never be a great player, and he knows it. But that doesn't mean the game can't be fascinating. One of the things to take away from this book is you don't have to be a Grandmaster to get a lot of out chess.
The book follows the history of the game as it also tracks one famous encounter between two chess players in 1851. Dubbed "The Immortal Game," it sums up what is so magical about chess--its unpredictability, its sudden reversals, and the feeling that no matter how much you play it, you will never fathom its depths. That's also the point Shenk drives home in the part of the book not devoted to the game, as he looks at how chess has shaped thinking on everything from math to science to social class to warfare to art to computers to psychology. He talks about great achievements brought about by chess, and the game's darker side, which has led to more than one case of madness, more than one suicide, and a reclusive American genius' raving anti-semite comments. No other game, he argues, has impacted the world as much, and few have lasted as long.
This is a well-written book, and very engaging. It does not have to be read by a person deeply-immersed in, and it's not overly-technical. I have to quibble a little about his insistence that chess geniuses are made and not born. While I don't doubt that thousands of hours puts the Garry Kasparovs and Susan Polgars of the world ahead of the rest of us, he ignores the fact that many other a would-be champ devoted equal effort to the game and failed miserably. He also doesn't seem to get that much of the "research" that has "proven" effort over aptitude is effected and infused by social and PC bias of the time, just as research on the subject half a century ago was similarly biased in the other direction. We seem to hesitate to say there may be a "chess gene" because the game is predominantly male and almost completely excludes certain racial groups. Be honest and ask yourself if we'd approach the sport of basketball with the same convictions.
Overall this is a very good book, however, and I recommend it for both the devoted fan and the casual, as well as curious, person, as a fine entertainment. Hopefully we are seeing a chess-publishing revival in the book world, and renewed interest in the game in the U.S.
Book Description
The Classic Play series takes the most popular aspects of roleplaying and puts them all together in one complete volume. Previous titles have included The Book of Strongholds & Dynasties, The Book of Dragons, The Book of Adventuring, and The Book of Encounters and Lairs. This volume fully details the immortals, immensely powerful beings who in many cases were once adventurers themselves. Every adventurer aspires to attain the lofty level of immortal, and this book will help guide their characters through this nigh-impossible task. The book is also a one-stop resource for any Games Master wishing to introduce his players to these awesome beings.
Average customer rating:
- The Chess Machine.
- A very good book on a GREAT player!
- So enjoyable like your favourite meal!!!
- Capablanca "The Chess Machine"
- The Best Work on Capablanca
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The Immortal Games of Capablanca
Fred Reinfeld
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0486263339 |
Book Description
Superbly annotated treasury includes 113 of the Cuban master's greatest games against Marshall, Lasker, Euwe, and many other formidable opponents. It also contains not only many games previously unavailable in book form, but a biography of Capablanca, his tournament and match record, and an Index of Openings.
Customer Reviews:
The Chess Machine........2002-07-25
For people not familiar with Jose Capablanca, he is generally considered to have been more talented than Bobby Fischer, but didn't posses Bobby's CRAZY work ethic.
Many people do not realize to what extremes bobby pushed himself to be the best.. he had NO contact with the opposite sex, no social life really, all he did was study the game.. Capablanca is referred by fischer himself as the glamour boy of the game.. He Socialized with kings and Queens. He had a small part in one of the first ever black and white films. And generally loved and respected around the world. Which for a chess player is incredible! Capablanca never studied, so his games usually have simple, or safe openings. But like Fischer says. "Capablanca played brilliantly in the middlegame".
The sophistication of his games are not quite appreciated by the beginner. When Capablanca saw, or got an advantage he would just sqeeze it to the very end. Some players do not realize that when you complicate things you can accidentaly give your opponent a way back into the game. As an example just think of GMs going against computers. There is no way they will complicate things because they know they will loose!
Each of his games are a GREAT lesson to anyone who wants to get better. Even his games as a 12 year old phenom going against the Cuban champion are VERY good so donot pass them up!
About the book. Reinfeld doesn't seem to be too fond of Capa. I know he idalized the less perfect play of Alekhine (he was more exciting, and more beatable)
The reason being that he seems to make up excuses for many his opponents. Some being incredibly ridiculous.. My favorite being an excuse he gives alekhine "He got a bad case of capa fright!" ooohhh scarry... O.K Alekhine was going against the "Babe Ruth" of chess. But what kind of man makes up excuses like that in this game? You need Ice in your veins to be succesful (Which I am sure Alekhine being one of the greats had!)
Another thing. He over criticisez his opponents mistakes. I think Lasker once said. "without mistakes we have drawn games". Reinfeld was a solid player in his day, and he should know better! He says little ridiculous stuff like that, and really its not all that bad. Its just stuff thats not necessary! He highlights that dum stuff in some games, and when he reaches some of the greatest games of all time... He doesnt do them any justice whatsoever!!! NONE.
That is why its only 3 stars.
That and the book is not in algebraic, like Irving Chernevs Capa book.
And the other more expensive one that I cannot seem to remember its name.
This book is still worth checking out.
A very good book on a GREAT player!.......2002-01-12
Simply put, you CANNOT go wrong buying this book! Many of my students find Capa's game to be the BEST for instruction! (Capa is in practically everybody's list of the "Ten Best Players Who Ever Lived!" His games are timeless!)
Positional players will profit from the clarity of the models and the way chess is played in this book. Tactical players will profit from a look at a completely different way of playing chess. (Capa was also an EXCELLENT tactician!) I have recommended this book to dozens of people ... NOT ONE PERSON WHO PLAYED THROUGH MOST OF THE GAMES ... had ANYTHING negative to say about this book! Practically every kind of middle-game position is seen; MANY DIFFERENT openings are played. The notes are VERY clear and insightful. The average player will not feel over-burdened by tons of really unnecessary variations. (The only knock on this book is that it is in descriptive notation.)
So enjoyable like your favourite meal!!!.......2001-09-17
Lets get to the point. This book its tremendously good! looking at Capablanca's games are like eating a Kings meal, just delicious!!!!!! So if you want to learn, improve, have fun and enjoy life like a King of chess then buy this book and read it. If you dont like it then switch to another game, i promise you will love it, keep it and reccomend it to your friends. Enjoy.
Capablanca "The Chess Machine".......2000-07-20
I, personally, hate long reviews of books, so I'm going to make this short and sweet! Capablanca was one of the greatest players of all time. Mr. Reinfeld (the author) adds stunning history behind the games and tells the reader what to expect of certain games in the intro of each chapter. The only bad mark that I can give this book is that the annotations seem a little brief at times; however, this book will teach you so much about the game of chess that one bad mark should never prevent a serious player from getting this classic!
The Best Work on Capablanca.......2000-02-02
No other collection of Capablanca's best games even begins to rival this one. I believe the annotation to be a little lighter at times than it could be, but the work is---nonetheless---excellent. If you have not yet become familiar with the Cuban's best games, buy and read this book!
Product Description
This is a two-in-one volume with both of Jacqueline Carey's top sellers Banewreaker and Godslayer. (Inside jacket: with her successful Kushiel series, Jacqueline Carey proved herself a force to be reckoned with in the fantasy field. Now she returns with another extraordinary epic, a shattering tale of gods at ware and the mortals they use in their deadly game.) Once the Seven Shapers dwelled in accord. First-born among them was Haomane, Lord-of-Thought, and with his six sibling gods, they Shaped the world and its children to their will. But Haomane was displeased with Satoris' Shaping, for he thought his younger brother too generous in his gifts to Men, who made war upon Hoamane's Children, the Ellylon. Though the First-Born asked his brother to withdraw his Gift, Satoris refused. So began the Shapers' War, which sundered the world and cast Satoris and his kindred to opposite ends of a vast ocean.
Customer Reviews:
An extraordinarily complex, moving achievement.......2007-07-13
Yes, I have read and loved all the Kushiel series; they are astonishing, wonderful books. Yet those who pick up the two volumes of the Sundering because they loved Phedre, and come away disappointed and complain the books fail to measure up, are missing the point entirely. These books are a different genre, and a different kind of accomplishment; they are a fantasy epic which is also a philosophical and ethical critique of the epic genre.
Of course, the similarily in narrative structure to the Tolkien epics is conscious and purposeful. Almost every character from the Lord of the Rings is found here: Gandalf-Malthus, Frodo-Dani, Aragorn-Aracus. Previous reviewers may have missed that the arguable "heroes" of this story, Tanaros Cavaros and the "Misbegotten" Ushahin Dreamspinner, are analogous to the leader of the Ringwraiths and Gollum. And Satoris Banewreaker, of course, is the Sauron who the Elves/Ellylon so lyrically claim to be bent on the destruction of all that is good and beautiful, working tirelessly "to cover all the world in a SECOND darkness!!!"
I wonder, how many of us who read and loved the Lord of the Rings ever wondered why Sauron would wish such a thing? Did the explanations of his motivations ever seem thin? Sauron was supposed to have created the Orcs "in savage mockery" of the Elves; a force of pure evil, needing no purpose other than destruction, with no desires, even in creation, except to mock and ruin. What Carey's epic is meant to show, and it succeeds beautifully, is that there are no such villains. There can be no races, such as the Orcs in Tolkien, without redeeming characteristics. To exist at all, especially to exist as a living community of any kind, living creatures must manifest certain virtues. The "Orcs" on the Sundering epic are ugly, certainly, and the "Elves" fear and despise them; yet Carey shows the Ellylon hatred and fear of the trollish Fjel as a product of their own limited aesthetics and the enmity between their races. The Fjel lack the beauties and brains of Elves and Men, yet they are real creatures, and therefore, in order for them to continue as a race at all, they must reproduce and rear their children, they must have some forms of love and loyalty. As this epic unfolds, the awareness grows in the reader that the "orcs" of Tolkien could never have been anything but a savagely distorted picture, a lie wrought by those who hated them from a distance. The power of the Ellylon to tell their stories with beauty, and thus inscribe their point of view as history, is explicitly thematized by Carey's hero Tanaros, who reminds the lovely Ellyl lady that every story has two sides, and that no Elf or Man has ever listened to the stories of the Fjel.
Tanaros himself stands as one of only two counter-examples; he himself is a Man, one who once served the ruling house of the oldest of Men's kingdoms. Once a hero in the best epic style, a loyal general who loved his king and his wife, now he is the most famous villain of his own race of origin. Long ago, he discovered his wife's new child to be, not his own son, but the son of his own best friend and beloved liege. The power of his loves fueled the violent madness of his hatred when those loves were betrayed, and he killed both his wife and her lover. Only in the service of Satoris can he re-discover loyalty and purpose, as only Satoris was willing to allow him the "dignity of his hatred" and allow him the chance to make a new life. The kingdoms of Men call Tanaros "Wifeslayer" the worst of comicbook villains, and see his service to Satoris as simply confirming how evil he is; a man who killed both wife and king could only flee to bad black Satoris in his evil dark fortress. Yet Carey shows us Darkhaven through the eyes of Tanaros as a haven, a place of beauty and dignity, and Satoris as the being who has given Tanaros sanctuary-- as well as a love that has never failed nor been untrue.
The Darkhaven of this epic, this Mordor, was built by Satoris after his first war with his older brother, who, wrathful at his younger brother's refusal to obey, burned the world with the fires of the sun and left Satoris wounded and scorched. Darkhaven is dark not to symbolize evil, but because light hurts as well as illuminates, and because fire is the weapon of the elder Shaper who believes, on thin grounds, that his own will is the entirety of truth and goodness, and that Satoris' refusal to obey him is the essence of wrong and evil. Darkhaven is guarded by Fjeltroll and staffed by madlings, and here is the poignant heart of Carey's vision. For Tanaros is only one of the ambiguous and complex heroes of this story. The other is his counterpart Ushahin, like Tanaros a byword for evil among the Elves and Men of this world, and like him a product of the very world and races who fear and hate him.
Ushahin Dreamspinner, unique in this fantasyworld, is half Ellyl and half mortal Man. The Ellyl, children of Haomane FirstBorn, are a race gifted with mind and heart, rationality and love, but immortal, and without the gift Satoris was asked to give to every other race: Desire. It was Haomane's command that Satoris withdraw Desire from Men which Satoris refused, the refusal for which he is called the Sunderer. Desire is an ambiguous gift, and one both Men and Elves find easy to blame for the crime one Man committed upon a daughter of the Ellylon; the crime of rape. Ushahin Dreamspinner was conceived in that rape, abandoned by the kindred of both parents, and almost killed in childhood by a crowd of other children with rocks. His appearance is all the more monstrous for the remains of remarkable beauty ruined, elegant bones shattered and ill set, wide-set eyes permanently dilated and crazed; he embodies all the horror of human cruelty and callousness, and walks in their dreams to show them the image of a child's fist with a rock breaking another child's face to bits. Called "The Misbegotten" by both the races from which he sprang, Ushahin serves Lord Satoris for the sanctuary Satoris gives to all the mad and broken of the world, those Ushahin calls to Darkhaven where they are safe and loved.
It is Satoris' relationship with Ushahin and his madlings that thematizes the true heart of this amazing critique of epic storytelling, this reply to Tolkien's brutal aesthetic of bright beautiful Elves versus nasty ugly orcs. When the lovely Ellylon lady arrives in Darkhaven and learns that it is a sanctuary for madlings, for all those beings broken and maimed by the cruelty of the world, she is of course appalled. The lovely, the perfect lady, of course she cannot fail to feel pity and mourn for the victims of cruelty and neglect who find safety and love in Darkhaven. Yet she protests they could be fixed, that Satoris ought to heal them and make them pretty again, a response that Tanaros shows in its selfishness with his reply: "To my lord Satoris, she is already beautiful." He loves them as they are, and finds the beauty they have in themselves, not needing to transform them into pretty elf maidens to find them lovely. Similarly, the Ellylon cannot realize the limitations of their own attitudes towards the half-elven Ushahin; they blame Satoris for not "fixing" him, never imagining that it is tghe Dreamspinner himself who refuses to be "healed" to erase the signs of what has made him what he is.
The Elves can only imagine beauty as being like themselves: perfect, tall, glowing with light, and above all, lucky. The scars of the unlucky, of all those who have been hurt, the stories of all those whose lives have been shaped by pain-- they can only see those things as flaws to be erased. What the limited aesthetic of the Ellylon cannot understand as valuable is the same thing that disappears in the caricatures of "orcs"-- the values and features of *life*. Life that struggles through pain and trauma, life that nurtures young, life that makes the best of ambiguity, life that goes on imperfectly.
It is finally an aesthetic of life with which Carey counters the simplistic aesthetic of epic in the Tolkien vein. In place of a god whose mysterious will must be obeyed as the definition of Goodness, we have a god who wishes only to live as he sees best, and survive the despite of his older brother's wrath. Haomane First-Born believes his own vision to be the definition of truth and reality, and his own will as the determiner of goodness. In such a belief-system there can only be one kind of choice: obedience is good, and defiance, evil. Counterpoised to that simplistic lie, Carey gives us a meditation on the nature of choice as life-determining, or choice and responsibility, of truth itself as ambiguity and complexity.
Good first half of a story. What next?.......2007-04-15
I love Jacqueline Carey's series about Phedre, beginning with Kushiel's Dart. It is one of my favorite stories. I also enjoyed The Sundering, though not as much.
The Sundering is a takeoff on Lord of the Rings, upside down. Sauron is the good guy here, and Gandalf is the bad guy. Frodo is a bit of a dupe, sent to destroy Sauron's power, even though Sauron was much kinder to him than the good guys ever were.
In this story, Gandalf's name is Malthus. "Mal" means something bad, as in malady. Frodo's name is Dani. He is accompanied by his uncle Bilbo, whose name here is Fat Uncle Thulu.
The dwarves are intact, but the elves are here called Ellylon, and are not as short as the elves of LOTR. Instead, they are the size of the elves in the LOTR movie, man-size.
Aragorn is in this story as well. His name is Aracus Altorus rather than Aragorn son of Arathorn. Same guy. Leader of the Borderguard, and the hereditary king. And as in LOTR he is scheduled to marry an elf, the Ellylon beauty Cerelinde.
Sauron, here called Satoris, isn't half bad. He inspires love and loyalty. It is his big brother Haomane who is the real pain in the butt. All of Satoris's brothers and sisters have ditched our world, gone across the sea, I suppose across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in America while the action of the story is in Europe, more or less, though Haomane's home is described as an island, not a continent.
Haomane wages unjust war against Satoris. On Satoris's side are Jackie's version of orcs or trolls, which she calls fjeltrol. They are big and strong and ugly. They are bigger than humans. But they have hearts of gold and are the good guys. The beautiful Ellylon are a bit of a load, conceited as all hell. So while Tolkein made it obvious who to root for because his good guys were cute and his bad guys were ugly, Carey turns that upside down for us. Ugly good guys, cute bad guys.
I was confused with some of her terminology. Souma. Soumanie. Marasoumie. Rhios. Half the time I barely knew what she was talking about when she mentioned these things. Apparently there is a lot of magic in her world, and the souma is a great source of magic.
Her characters are so interesting that I always wish the books were illustrated.
The main additions she has to LOTR are some new characters. Satoris (Sauron) has his three main helpers. I suppose they could be compared to the ring wraiths, and once in a while one of them is a Black Rider, but these three really aren't ring wraiths, and have interesting characters of their own. One of them, Tanaros, is the star of the book.
I enjoyed this book but it cries out for a sequel. Everything about the ending screams out SEQUEL.
A tragedy.......2006-05-27
This is an interesting book. The world is believable. the different races recognizable. It is told from the perspective of Satoris, the third born shaper of the world. He is supposed to be the bad guy that caused the world to be sundered.
And war is coming. It is led by the children of the first born shaper, Satoris' brother Haomane. They are allegedly the good guys. So now we have a classic battle between good and evil, only good isn't that good, and evil might actually be innocent of the charges against him.
I found myself cheering for Satoris as everything about him fell apart. I really didn't like Haomane at all. There are magical weapons, prophecies, but no one becomes all powerful that none can stand before him.
This is a story filled with rich characters, and they experience the spectrum of love, betrayal, honor and pride. This is good story and fine fantasy.
Recommended.
Customer Reviews:
It was a switch from the usual fantasy..........1999-09-16
Seelie and Unseelie elves trying to eke out an existance in Banal world, battling invisible chimaeric toys in the streets of Frisco, clinging tenaciously the nobility of the Middle Ages. I found this book quite refreshing from the run-of-the-mill fantasy books one can find. Unlike many of the novels about the faerie people, this one actually takes place on present-day Earth, and the faeries have to juggle two lives (human and faerie) besides trying to keep from losing their memories to the cold, unbelieving Banal world. All in all, a refreshing take on the faerie folk, and all in all, a great read.
Amazon.com
Penzler Pick, June 2000: Here's a first novel that pays homage to Hammett, Chandler, and every wisecracking PI in the genre, and then some. It also introduces one of the most delightful characters to come along in some time: August Riordan, a jazz bass-playing PI who is cynical, irreverent, and a laugh a minute. Mark Coggins slyly references his mentors--Riordan is superstitious about the clock in front of Samuel's Jewelers, and he eats at John's Grill. Although mystery buffs will find these references throughout the story, readers who do not pick up on them will not come away feeling cheated. The setting here is present-day San Francisco and the very modern world of Silicon Valley, where software theft has replaced "the stuff that dreams are made of."
The aptly named Edwin Bishop, a multimillionaire entrepreneur, has developed advanced chess software able to make decisions while playing human opponents, unlike the usual software that tends to follow set moves. Bishop himself is a highly intelligent, arrogant man who lives his eccentric life in his mansion with several paid female companions. He is unaware that his software has been stolen until he stumbles across a vendor demonstrating his game at a trade show. Enter Riordan, who must negotiate his way through the world of high technology, jazz, and the underground arena of S/M as he searches for the missing software. His sometime partner in this venture is Chris Duckworth, who works part-time for Bishop's competitor, and who, in his spare time, works as a transvestite at the Stigmata bar. The characters in this charming, fresh, and entertaining mystery are fully fleshed; the dialogue is fast, compelling, and witty; and the grainy photographs that accompany each chapter opening add a pleasing dimension to this delightful first outing. --Otto Penzler
Book Description
Meet Edwin Bishop: a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who has founded and taken public several very successful software game companies. Highly intelligent, arrogant, yet unschooled in social graces, Bishop lives an eccentric life in his Silicon Valley mansion with several paid female companions.
Bishop has developed a software program to play chess against human opponents that he claims is the most advanced ever written, but before it is released, he finds that the software has been stolen when he stumbles across a vendor demonstrating the game at a trade show.
Enter August Riordan: a jazz bass-playing private eye who is cynical, irreverent and given to speaking his mind with unreconstructed candor. Although Bishop wants to hire a discreet private detective with a strong sense of professional ethics, as Riordan says, It was his tough luck he happened to pick me.
Riordan careens through the very modern milieu of Silicon Valley in his quest for the chess program, enmeshing himself in more than just high technology. Jazz music, the underground world of S&M and an unlikely partnership with Chris Duckworth, a smart aleck gay man whom he meets at a bar called The Stigmata, are all part of the intriguing adventure.
Full of well-drawn, idiosyncratic characters, fast dialogue and compelling and realistic portrayals of many San Francisco Bay Area locales, The Immortal Game is a very fresh and entertaining mystery in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
This special edition from Poltroon Press is illustrated with 30 photographs and incorporates many of the design elements of the famous Borzoi Books first edition of The Big Sleep published by Knopf in 1939.
Customer Reviews:
First-Rate Detective Story.......2003-09-22
Mark Coggins's "Immortal Game" is a fast-paced, easy-to-read detective novel. The protagonist is August Riordan, a sarcastic private detective who moonlights as a string base player for local jazz ensembles. Riordan is commissioned by a software entrepeneur, Edwin Bishop, to track down and retrieve a virtual reality chess program which Bishop believes was stolen by his former mistress. Riordan bumbles the case, is fired and proceeds to stumble upon clue after clue in true Columbo-like fashion.
There is a lot in this novel to hold the reader's interest. There are jokes, puns and allusions to classic detective fiction. There are intriguing portrayals of San Francisco culture and equally-intriguing, strategically-placed photographs of San Francisco architecture, neighborhoods, and landmarks throughout the novel.
The excerpts on the back cover of the book bill it as a chess mystery. If you are looking for a good chess novel, don't give up on this book. The chess symbolism and chess theme wasn't obvious to me for the first two-thirds of the book. At some point in the final third, I realized that I needed to look up the Anderssen-Kieseritzky match, the 'Immortal Game' of the title. The plot and final resolution of the mystery does somewhat mirror the moves in this famous game. This made this novel all the more engaging. You can find this game, as well as a move-by-move analysis, in Martin Beheim's "Chess with the Masters".
If you enjoyed this novel, you might enjoy another work of chess fiction concerning the Andersson-Kieseritzky game, Poul Anderson's short story, "The Immortal Game."
This book contains one or two fairly explicit descriptions of a sado-masochistic relationship. Some readers may find these passages distasteful. Otherwise, this is an enjoyable, carefully-crafted mystery.
A New Detective Joins San Francisco's Best.......2002-05-02
Mark Coggins is a writer to look forward to. He evokes a San Francisco reminiscent of Raymond Chandler. Despite being set in a modern day, Silicon Valley-contemporary environment, Coggins manages to cast a fustiness over the sunny San Francisco cityscape he depicts in word and photograph. His frequently sexually contorted characters stand up well. In the case of his main character, private detective August Riordan, and his part time sidekick (also part time transvestite), Chris Duckworth, you hope to see them again in a future novel. The technology theft of a chess game and the subsequent trail of murders in interesting circumstances and locations is challenging enough to keep us guessing and reading.
Mark Coggins has done his own photography for the book. Each chapter starts with a photo related to the action or locale of the chapter's action, adding greatly to the sense of place, and to the texture of the story.
The Immortal Game is a gritty story. It is one of those books can't put down, hate to finish, and are left wondering what the main charaters are doing today.
Excellent mystery!.......2002-03-12
This book, while reminiscent of Chandler and other great mysteries, is packed with wit and intelligence, not to mention light descriptions of S&M and one very sexy character. The photographs are beautifully matched to Coggins' pen and the story is anything but boring with great twists and a push to hurry to the finish. Highly recommended and looking forward to the next one!
Great Mystery Novel with a Fun Chess Twist.......2001-06-28
If you love Raymond Chandler's novels, you'll love this book. It is stylishly written, with a good plot and fun characters. It is particularly enjoyable to see how the San Francisco Bay Area is woven into the fabric of the story.
I should add that for me personally the chess theme was a guaranteed hook; I used to play chess professionally and I wrote the Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess. But while the chess aspect of the story is fun, this is really a mystery thriller written as an homage to Raymond Chandler. Read this book because you love a well-written hard-boiled mystery, not because you love chess. (Although loving chess will add to your pleasure!)
A bonus to this book is that there are many inside winks to people who are knowledgeable about Raymond Chandler or the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, each chapter is framed by a photo of some place in the Bay Area, and some of these photos are quite nice.
Compulsively Readable.......2000-06-15
"The Immortal Game" - chess afficionados willrecognize it as the famous battle between Anderssen and Kieseritzkywith the ingenious endgame, while mystery fans will instantly draw parallels with other crime novels that carried chess themes. This is a more than competent debut by Mark Coggins and he successfully recreates a Chandler-esque flavor throughout the novel. In fact, many fans will no doubt enjoy spotting various little references to Chandler and other hard-boiled greats.
The premise itself is relatively simple: millionaire game developer, Edwin Bishop, has had the latest - and only - copy of his Grand Master-level, computer chess game stolen. He comes across an almost identical game at a trade convention and hires PI August Riordan to track down the stolen program and Tracy McCulloch, his former live-in female companion whom he suspects for the crime. What ensues is a page-turning tour through the Bay Area's more "interesting" locales. Riordan encounters thugs, killers, computer geeks, transvestite entertainers, socialites and a fair share of dominatrices. Highly entertaining and compulsively readable, I zipped through this one in no time at all. Will I pick up Mr. Coggins' next novel (tentatively titled "Vulture Capital")? Most definitely - he's a very good writer with a solid grasp of pacing and dialogue. The characters are well drawn too, especially that of Chris Duckworth, Riordan's sidekick wannabe. There is a lot of material here that can be solidly followed up on in subsequent novels - there is at least one other August Riordan novel in the works.
Now for the quibbles. As an homage to Chandler, Hammett, etc., "The Immortal Game" fulfills every expectation I had of it. However, Mr. Coggins mentioned in his amazon.com interview that the novel carries a major chess theme, and I have no choice but to take issue with that. Sure, the plot of the novel surrounds a stolen piece of chess software and the solution to the mystery does have something to do with The Immortal Game, but that's about as far as it goes. Riordan himself does not know much about chess, although he does learn quite a bit about it by the end of the case. The other major quibble is that Mr. Coggins' description of the stolen piece of software just doesn't seem all that compelling. There is a virtual reality game interface and an artificial intelligence or human emulation engine built into it that allows the computer to perform like a real player, i.e. declining gambits, accepting tactical sacrifices for positional/strategic gains, etc. Well, there are quite a few examples of chess games out there that already do this and have for some time. In fact, the stolen chess game could have been substituted for just about anything else - some other kind of software, jewellery, confidential documents - and the novel would still have been as good.
As things stand, I think I'd say that chess appears more as a device rather than a theme or motif. If you're an avid chess fan, you'll be disappointed by the intermittent role that the game plays in the story - look for Paolo Maurensig's "The Luneberg Variation" or Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Flanders Panel" instead. I'm sure that most mystery fans will enjoy "The Immortal Game" and those who don't already know much about Anderssen Vs. Kieseritzky might feel inspired enough to do some of their own research afterwards. If the sign of a good book is its ability to open the doors to new worlds and interests, then I'm sure that Mark Coggins has done an admirable job with this fine debut effort.
Book Description
This new and expanded edition of The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games contains the 112 greatest chess games of all time—selected, analyzed, re-evaluated and explained by a team of experts and illustrated with more than 900 diagrams. Among the highlights are Kasparov vs. Topalov; Kasparov vs. Wijk aan Zee; the super-computer Deep Blue’s historic first win over Kasparov; Boris Spassky’s “James Bond” Mating Combination; and Bobby Fischer’s “Game of the Century.” Study these games and learn about defense and counterattack, logical opening play, endgame strategy, psychological warfare, and how great players think.
Customer Reviews:
The copy I saw was a mis-printing.......2007-06-08
I looked at this book (2nd edition) specifically for a game where Nigel Short marches his king across the board to defeat Jan Timman. I got interested in this because chess teacher Fred Wilson mentioned it in his "Four Fighting Kings" tape (available from fredwilsonchess.com).
It was a real disappointment to see that the book I examined was apparently the result of a printing that went from pp. 481 to 486, then went back to 482 and was missing the first 8 moves of the game!
So I ordered a copy of the first edition.
Games Chosen By Committee.......2007-03-12
"I have played against you both...in my opinion Morphy was the King of all chess players who ever lived and Anderssen, in his prime, was next to him. As for you and the rest of us - oh, we play chess."
--Paulsen to Steinitz, Vienna, 1873
**********
Anderssen has two games in this book. Morphy has none. Morphy beat Anderssen twelve times, lost to him three times, and drew against him twice.
In addition to a faulty selection of games, this book has poor quality binding and paper.
I blame a strange committee process rather than national bias for the authors' omission. The book even acknowledges that Anderssen was bested by "the brilliant young American, Paul Morphy." The trouble is, Morphy's greatest achievements have become less famous than his spectacular quick wins against lesser opponents. A book like this, where the authors chose games for their renown as well as for their quality, has no way of dealing with a player whose great games are not famous and whose famous games are not great. The result is a one-hundred-twelve-game collection that leaves out one of the greatest chess players who ever lived. To set the record straight, I recommend PAUL MORPHY: A MODERN PERSPECTIVE by Valeri Beim.
The Mammoth book has some good commentary on a lot of fantastic games, but the claim made in its title is unfounded and the binding and pages fall apart quickly. Aside from the absence of Morphy, there are too many contemporary games for a book purporting to be a historical overview.
I deduct one star for poor material quality and one for a game selection that overemphasizes the last twenty years while ignoring the player who stood out above his contemporaries more than any other player in the history of chess.
I have noticed reviews by a couple of Morphy bashers. They will probably never change their tune, but anyone who wants to have an informed opinion really ought to read Beim's book on Morphy or at least see the section on Morphy in Kasparov's MY GREAT PREDECESSORS. Why people still judge Morphy based on his wins against weak players is beyond me. Nobody judges Kasparov by his exhibition game against Sting.
Fantastic game collection.......2007-02-28
The authors have put together an excellent collection of great games from the last 175 years of chess history. The book is aimed at the intermediate and advanced player. It starts with a brief introduction to the players and the game for each game and then proceeds to explain and analyze what is happening in the game. It contains the right amount of explanation and analysis to appeal to a wide variety of players and has plenty of diagrams so that the stronger player will not need to have a board and set to follow the action. For the less experienced player, the authors place a aynopsis of the lessons to be learned at the end of the game.
Although the description of the book say 512 pages, it is actually 624 pages. The amount of material, quality of annotation and reasonable price make this a very worthwhile book to own.
Analyzed Games Old and New "want to improve your chess will be good for you!".......2006-11-20
This book contains selected games. Both of the masters of new, old all great which will help your ability to checkmate! One Hundred and Twelve games analyzed games study, alone or with your best buddy. The analysis though not real deep makes is light enough for your mind to keep. Want deeper analysis using games get books by Nunn (Understanding Chess) or by Snyder ("Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors"). They are move by move both fun and the the analysis more tighter. These days when it comes to books with games and good analysis you have many to choose so start reading them all it's no time to snooze.
Now down to real business! "The Mammoth Book" contains a wide variety of games over a long time span by many strong players. The analysis ranging from light to moderate in depth is for an intermediate level to stronger player level. This is not a down to basics level book. I was disapointed only in that the book was made out of really cheap paper and is hard to keep open when using (why four instead of five stars). True, I prefer the "every move commented on approach" used by Chernev, Nunn and Snyder, but "the Mammoth book" is still excellent.
I love the first edition.......2006-09-26
This review pertains specifically to the first edition. I do not have the second edition and probably will not buy it because I will probably never finish learning everything that I can from the first! I really like the book and have learned much so far. The selection of games is very good and that analysis is good. Based upon some of the other reviews here, it may not be perfect analysis, but it is very good. At first I thought that the biographies were unnecessary because anyone who could use this book would know about the players, but then I learned quite a bit there too. A very good book and at a very reasonable price.
Customer Reviews:
Unearthly D&D Gaming.......2006-07-10
The Immortals set offers a chance for characters that have done everything and have reached the ceiling of level-limitations (36th in the D&D) to carry on adventuring even longer. With this set the PCs leave behind their mortal shells to become beings of pure power--an immortal (or god, but the D&D game always had shied away from such concepts).
A character's class in his mortal life dictates what sphere of power they follow, be it the sphere of time, thought, energy, or matter. These immortal beings possess great power that is regulated in game terms by Power Costs (PP) score. Immortals are immune to attacks from mortal beings so long as they will it so. However, immortals simply do not sit back and destroy mortal creatures all day, they have other immortal beings and creatures to battle.
A list of bizarre creatures, like the blackball, notion, and baak, are given for a DM to pit against his players' characters. Also included, interestingly enough, are demons--in fact the demons listed in the AD&D Monster Manual, including the princes Orcus and Demogorgon. However, these demons are extremely powerful (the "Screamer" demon, the equivalent of the Type I demon (Vrock), is 26 Hit Dice). Magic resistance for monsters is also introduced (called "anti-magic"). Finally, there is a bibliography that includes source material, reference material, and suggested fiction reading lists.
The Immortals set is unlike anything produced for D&D. It essentially allows one to play superheroes like those that populate the Marvel universe, yet in more or a fantastic, mythological setting. The idea of the outer planes and its inhabitants presented in this work are truly bizarre for a D&D campaign.
A successful Immortals campaign requires a Dungeon Master that possesses a great imagination and the will to tell his players "no, you can't do that." Otherwise play is apt to devolve into nothing more than a dull gladiatorial arena with the immortal players pitted against powerful monsters. That the PCs will be residing on other planes, yet traveling to countless Prime Material worlds is this game's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Such a campaign is so far a radical departure from the typical D&D fair that it is likely that most D&D gamers will not ever explore the Immortals set. But, it's nice to see something different.
Sheer innovation revitalizes any high-level campaign.......2000-05-02
This is the most innovative, ambitious rules set ever put out by TSR - this isn't a set detailing the Gods. This is a set detailing how YOU can turn your 36th-level player characters into the Immortals themselves! Rules include - apotheosis (attaining divinity), godly powers, belief systems, epic quests, and the amazing monsters, artifacts, and realms of magic that the most powerful of all creatures use as their deadly proving grounds... an intense, evocative set of rules that will leave you amazed by its ambition and depth.
Customer Reviews:
Hawaii and Menehune.......2001-02-03
for Changeling: the Dreaming. The 2nd in the Immortal Eyes trilogy (preceded by The Toybox, followed by Court of All Kings), Shadows on the Hill covers the chimerical Hawaii setting, and includes the story material for the second part of the Immortal Eyes chronicle. it also introduces the Menehune, the islands' native fae.
the biggest problem with this book is that it spends too many pages detailing characters, pages that could have been better spent giving more detail to the various Menehune Callings (the four divisions of the Hawaiian fae) and their culture. the focus of the book is on the European Kith, and treats the native fae as a sidenote.
the setting material is good, and open-ended enough to set Chronicles in Hawaii entirely for many years, though a good bibliography would have help fill in the holes.
Average customer rating:
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Lords of Middle-Earth, Vol 1 - The Immortals: Elves, Maiar, and Valar (Middle Earth Role Playing/MERP #8002)
Peterc Fenlon , and
S. C. Charlton
Manufacturer: Iron Crown Enterprises
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0915795264 |
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