http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/First_Fundamentals.html

Sample pages:
http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/FirstFundamentals_Sample.pdf

Table of contents:
http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/First_Fundamentals_TOC.html

Cover:
http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/First_Fundamentals_Cover.png

Review by the author:
http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/First_Fundamentals_Review.html

Since I will attend the European Go Congress from July 21 to August 5
and cannot process orders during that time, people wishing to purchase
directly from me can do so either until tomorrow CET 19:00 summer time
(EST 13:00 summer time) or starting again on August 6. Until tomorrow
CET 9:00 a.m. summer time (EST 3:00 a.m. summer time), I can accept a
choice for insured letters; tomorrow afterwards I can process only
uninsured letters.

The book will - in limited quantities - also be available during the
European Go Congress and soon from retailers.

**************************************************************************

Review by the Author

General Specification

- Title: First Fundamentals
- Author: Robert Jasiek
- Publisher: Robert Jasiek
- Edition: 2012
- Language: English
- Price: EUR 25 (book), EUR 12.50 (PDF)
- Contents: fundamentals
- ISBN: none
- Printing: good
- Layout: good
- Editing: almost good
- Pages: 212
- Size: 148mm x 210mm
- Diagrams per Page on Average: 4.5
- Method of Teaching: principles, entertainment, examples
- Read when EGF: 30k - 4k, most suitable for 20k - 8k
- Subjective Rank Improvement: ++
- Subjective Topic Coverage: - (fundamentals in general), ++
(fundamentals for beginners)
- Subjective Aims' Achievement: ++

Aims

First Fundamentals has two aims:

- It helps beginners to rise above their current level and become
intermediate players as quickly as possible.
- It helps intermediate players to abandon their remaining beginners'
mistakes.

Here, 'beginner' does not refer to 'absolute beginners', who have not
completed their first 50 games yet. In 2012, 'beginner' is roughly
associated with EGF double digit kyu level and AGA or KGS 5 kyu or
weaker. The book can be useful for intermediate players up to circa
EGF 4 kyu, AGA 1 kyu or KGS 2 kyu.

Contents and Concept

Besides the topics apparent from the table of contents, there are a
few more. 'Attack and defense' is carefully discussed in several
chapters and studied from different perspectives. The basic shapes and
principles for 'josekis' are presented. The relevant chapter explains
the decision process of 'reading' ahead move sequences. The book does
not presume preliminary knowledge; the few used terms such as moyo,
efficiency or sente are explained.

The author studied some 100 beginners' games to identify, without
exception, all the important, regularly occurring beginner mistakes,
which are responsible for almost all of a player's lost points during
his games. The mistakes are illustrated in the many examples taken
from or motivated by beginners' games, and are compared with correct
moves and sequences.

The fundamentals of go theory are taught as principles, which are very
simple, clear and concise. Besides principles in the headings and a
few minor principles, the 58 major principles are stated very
prominently in the text. If the reader has seen a book about
fundamentals stressing their importance but hardly explaining them or
teaching some but hiding them in the text, this book does not
disappoint him: it includes each needed principle and makes it very
easy to find "Choose the bigger space.", "Do not attack yourself.",
"Capture important groups firmly." and all the other principles. Every
major principle is followed by a general explanation, half a dozen to
two dozen examples and their comments. This presentation allows the
reader to understand and learn easily one principle after another.

Each chapter is preceded by an entertaining short story, which serves
as a parable for a key idea to be learnt in the chapter. Every chapter
starts with an introduction and concludes with problems, which allow
the reader to test his learning success.

By teaching just all those principles needed to surmount all the
important beginners' mistakes, First Fundamentals fulfils its aims and
enables the reader to improve quickly.

While most diagrams are simple, a small fraction of the examples or
problems may be too advanced or contain too many moves for a
beginner's taste and may be welcome more by intermediate players.
Consider this salt as a motivation for becoming stronger. Is there any
other limitation? Since the book teaches all necessary topics, it does
not compete with pure problem books, whose sheer number of problems
allows a more exhaustive practical training of reading and life and
death. The converse is also true: reading alone is insufficient. A
beginner must know what to read and which mistakes to avoid, and the
principles of First Fundamentals reveal this essential knowledge
completely.

Conclusion

First Fundamentals fills an urgent gap in literature, which existed
between books for absolute beginners and books for intermediate
players, and meets the demand for a detailed explanation of all the
fundamental principles beginners must know to rise quickly above their
current level.