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Review Date: 4/21/2016
Endgames were never my strongest suit and this book changed that. I feel like it helped me move beyond my C level at last, after I was stuck in it for two years.
Speaking subjectively, the endgame studies were very challenging for me at least, I suspect they would be quite hard for beginners but may be wrong, as someone who fiercely loves middlegames, I am highly biased against endgames, sometimes unfairly so.
The bottom line is, the book should put you miles ahead of your immediate and even currently stronger opponent. It not only increased my endgame play, but also contributed to my overall improvement, sometimes indirectly, without me realizing how I am able to steer into a better position.
I have not scored against a Master yet, but was proud of getting some Experts scalps:) So overall, I would recommend to a serious student of chess, while adding a caution that it took me a year to finish the entire book.
Speaking subjectively, the endgame studies were very challenging for me at least, I suspect they would be quite hard for beginners but may be wrong, as someone who fiercely loves middlegames, I am highly biased against endgames, sometimes unfairly so.
The bottom line is, the book should put you miles ahead of your immediate and even currently stronger opponent. It not only increased my endgame play, but also contributed to my overall improvement, sometimes indirectly, without me realizing how I am able to steer into a better position.
I have not scored against a Master yet, but was proud of getting some Experts scalps:) So overall, I would recommend to a serious student of chess, while adding a caution that it took me a year to finish the entire book.
Review Date: 1/22/2015
I am not entirely sure how an author who is
famous for his other books (Reassess your Chess)that can at least be useful to amateurs even if they do present many contrived situations where one side entirely dominates the board with a good strategic plan and creates an illusion of strategy which does not often occur in real life between equal, let alone differently rated opponents, at least the seeds provided can be applied with some discrimination.
Expecting something similar with my favorite opening,from a positional author, Jeremy Silman, who never holds back his criticism of the wrong plan from his students or even himself I honestly expected higher standards. Not because I wanted him to digest everything for me up to an endgame, I am a small B level and can do some plans quite admirably myself.
What I got was the other extreme. Succinct is a very polite words to describe my disappointment. Most variations didn't seem to have any finished games representing them, the crucial positions in the middlegame one could reach, as Nigel Davies would do, were not discussed in more detail, the diagrams were shown after a few moves. No plans of any kind, tactical or strategic, no warnings, no words of advice, no finished master games, no started amateur games.
The book never said that it was designed for masters specifically. I may be only a B level but I can follow a few tidbits here and there designed for those higher than myself, up to an Expert level. I could not find anything in the book I could use. If any of you masters out there like it, you must have some perverse tastes in your chess literature.
I simply don't understand how this book is a book on openings. It may have a brief tactical introduction, but I would not need the book for that even as a D level, and if some strategy was somehow implied in later sections, I must have failed to notice it in my density.
I have never seen as bad of an opening book as the Accelerated Dragons by Silman and Donaldson. I used to respect both authors and so still cannot process how they agree to put their name to such rubbish that keeps getting reprinted.
Silman himself often says that you have to have a passion for the opening you play. I do have it for the Dragon but if I didn't, the book would certainly not encourage it.
If you are a Dragon player, if you are below my B level and want to learn some new tricks, please do yourself a favor and steer clear of it. Yes, I know, it is a Silman, but it may as well have been written by a different author who believes in none of the concepts that made the IM Jeremy Silman so famous.
This advice is not intended for Experts and Masters, I am below your level and cannot recommend anything,I only hope that some of you can glean the nuggets of wisdom I missed and post them in a clear way out there so that I can learn and not feel like I wasted money.
Maybe this book should have been called Dragon Slayer, because reading it was initially devastating for me, never have I experienced such a strong desire to throw a Chess Book away. In fact I could not handle having it in my sight much longer and felt forced to simply give it away in trade with the hope that somebody else can get the benefit I would not.
Only a DVD by GM Eugene Pereleshteyn and a few Youtube videos restored my faith in the opening and even to this day I don't play it as often as I could because of my disgust with Accelerated Dragons by Silman.
famous for his other books (Reassess your Chess)that can at least be useful to amateurs even if they do present many contrived situations where one side entirely dominates the board with a good strategic plan and creates an illusion of strategy which does not often occur in real life between equal, let alone differently rated opponents, at least the seeds provided can be applied with some discrimination.
Expecting something similar with my favorite opening,from a positional author, Jeremy Silman, who never holds back his criticism of the wrong plan from his students or even himself I honestly expected higher standards. Not because I wanted him to digest everything for me up to an endgame, I am a small B level and can do some plans quite admirably myself.
What I got was the other extreme. Succinct is a very polite words to describe my disappointment. Most variations didn't seem to have any finished games representing them, the crucial positions in the middlegame one could reach, as Nigel Davies would do, were not discussed in more detail, the diagrams were shown after a few moves. No plans of any kind, tactical or strategic, no warnings, no words of advice, no finished master games, no started amateur games.
The book never said that it was designed for masters specifically. I may be only a B level but I can follow a few tidbits here and there designed for those higher than myself, up to an Expert level. I could not find anything in the book I could use. If any of you masters out there like it, you must have some perverse tastes in your chess literature.
I simply don't understand how this book is a book on openings. It may have a brief tactical introduction, but I would not need the book for that even as a D level, and if some strategy was somehow implied in later sections, I must have failed to notice it in my density.
I have never seen as bad of an opening book as the Accelerated Dragons by Silman and Donaldson. I used to respect both authors and so still cannot process how they agree to put their name to such rubbish that keeps getting reprinted.
Silman himself often says that you have to have a passion for the opening you play. I do have it for the Dragon but if I didn't, the book would certainly not encourage it.
If you are a Dragon player, if you are below my B level and want to learn some new tricks, please do yourself a favor and steer clear of it. Yes, I know, it is a Silman, but it may as well have been written by a different author who believes in none of the concepts that made the IM Jeremy Silman so famous.
This advice is not intended for Experts and Masters, I am below your level and cannot recommend anything,I only hope that some of you can glean the nuggets of wisdom I missed and post them in a clear way out there so that I can learn and not feel like I wasted money.
Maybe this book should have been called Dragon Slayer, because reading it was initially devastating for me, never have I experienced such a strong desire to throw a Chess Book away. In fact I could not handle having it in my sight much longer and felt forced to simply give it away in trade with the hope that somebody else can get the benefit I would not.
Only a DVD by GM Eugene Pereleshteyn and a few Youtube videos restored my faith in the opening and even to this day I don't play it as often as I could because of my disgust with Accelerated Dragons by Silman.
Review Date: 4/21/2016
The book delivers many relevant facts about the famous mathematician John Nash. Some examples of his mathematical ability, unusual even by genius standards, were given. The mathematical atmosphere of the time was explained briefly, certain universities highlighted.
The problem was for me that the book flowed about as excitingly as my first paragraph. Everything is there, to a small extent, but mostly without engaging me directly. I must admit I expected a little bit more.
On the other hand I might be biased, as one who does advanced calculus for fun, her game theory approach was not precise for me, as one who was fascinated by the causes of schizophrenia, the author did not add anything new to my understanding.
The biography did contribute to my continuing appreciation of the Sheldon Cooper character from Big Bang Theory, since Nash appeared to share many characteristics with the brilliant physicist of Chuck Laurie and I think the book helped me decide which mathematician Leonard was based on.
Unfortunately, aside from these tantalizing trivia bits, I did not feel the prose flowed at the hands of an experienced journalist. The book had many pages, but I felt needed more cutting, so much material was distracting me from what I really wanted to understand about John Nash.
I am not giving the book a lesser amount of stars because, being objective, other readers might enjoy the book more if they have less understanding of Nash's condition, or his math. But for me, this book pales in comparison with descriptions of other brilliant mathematicians I enjoyed reading: Hardy, Hilbert, Poincare, Weiner and Ulam.
The problem was for me that the book flowed about as excitingly as my first paragraph. Everything is there, to a small extent, but mostly without engaging me directly. I must admit I expected a little bit more.
On the other hand I might be biased, as one who does advanced calculus for fun, her game theory approach was not precise for me, as one who was fascinated by the causes of schizophrenia, the author did not add anything new to my understanding.
The biography did contribute to my continuing appreciation of the Sheldon Cooper character from Big Bang Theory, since Nash appeared to share many characteristics with the brilliant physicist of Chuck Laurie and I think the book helped me decide which mathematician Leonard was based on.
Unfortunately, aside from these tantalizing trivia bits, I did not feel the prose flowed at the hands of an experienced journalist. The book had many pages, but I felt needed more cutting, so much material was distracting me from what I really wanted to understand about John Nash.
I am not giving the book a lesser amount of stars because, being objective, other readers might enjoy the book more if they have less understanding of Nash's condition, or his math. But for me, this book pales in comparison with descriptions of other brilliant mathematicians I enjoyed reading: Hardy, Hilbert, Poincare, Weiner and Ulam.
Review Date: 4/21/2016
The author of this book is a Russian GM famous for his Road to Self Improvement book. He got his GM norm at a relatively late age by modern standards so has a better capacity to understand our amateur mind than most professional players(above master's level).
The book deals with a special variation of the Sicilian, orthodox enough and tested enough that many silly opening traps fail against its solidity, yet modern enough to be used in various championships around 10 years ago.
I feel that chess books like this don't get old at any rate because they explain the ideas and not the variations, which is what we amateurs seem to lack the most in our games. As a B level I don't often go for a book with many opening variations, because almost every second online game I play features a different setup. If I am not familiar enough with different general methods of how to counter them, I find myself fighting against a tactic after tactic in an unfamiliar territory. That seems to be a losing battle for players who have to come up with a a new idea every moment.
This books shows such ideas for our benefit. Sadly it is small enough and does cover as many variations as I would have liked, not even the Grand Prix variation that so many lesser levels, including my B, still enjoy.
On the bright side, being smallish almost ensures that this book could actually being studied to the very end. I find it difficult finishing some of my chess books, unless my study can quickly progress as it does with middlegames and tactics. Everything else, even openings, I study thoroughly but slowly and it felt very encouraging to be able to finish this book after only three months of carefully examining the 25 games provided for illustration.
The book deals with a special variation of the Sicilian, orthodox enough and tested enough that many silly opening traps fail against its solidity, yet modern enough to be used in various championships around 10 years ago.
I feel that chess books like this don't get old at any rate because they explain the ideas and not the variations, which is what we amateurs seem to lack the most in our games. As a B level I don't often go for a book with many opening variations, because almost every second online game I play features a different setup. If I am not familiar enough with different general methods of how to counter them, I find myself fighting against a tactic after tactic in an unfamiliar territory. That seems to be a losing battle for players who have to come up with a a new idea every moment.
This books shows such ideas for our benefit. Sadly it is small enough and does cover as many variations as I would have liked, not even the Grand Prix variation that so many lesser levels, including my B, still enjoy.
On the bright side, being smallish almost ensures that this book could actually being studied to the very end. I find it difficult finishing some of my chess books, unless my study can quickly progress as it does with middlegames and tactics. Everything else, even openings, I study thoroughly but slowly and it felt very encouraging to be able to finish this book after only three months of carefully examining the 25 games provided for illustration.
Review Date: 1/20/2015
I was looking for a nice Christmas present
for my brother in law and that was it. He was
not a beginner and yet, was not ready yet for
the more advanced strategy the kind you read about
in literature on middlegame. I am pretty good at
deducing people's levels and I estimated his to be a D level. Based on my considerations I chose this book and it appeared to be the kind of challenge that he could still go through without getting bogged down, it was a perfect fit. I can speculate that E and D levels who did not have formal education, it provides a certain bridge in your knowledge, but I think even as a beginning C I knew already too much of the material in this book and so cannot fully recommend it to any C level.
for my brother in law and that was it. He was
not a beginner and yet, was not ready yet for
the more advanced strategy the kind you read about
in literature on middlegame. I am pretty good at
deducing people's levels and I estimated his to be a D level. Based on my considerations I chose this book and it appeared to be the kind of challenge that he could still go through without getting bogged down, it was a perfect fit. I can speculate that E and D levels who did not have formal education, it provides a certain bridge in your knowledge, but I think even as a beginning C I knew already too much of the material in this book and so cannot fully recommend it to any C level.
Review Date: 1/22/2015
I feel Nimzowitch was not only a great
player and innovator, but also a gifted writer,
able to engage even my limited understanding.
Both of his books, My System and
Chess Praxis have become classics, legitimately. To my mind reading Nimzowitch is more engaging that most chess manuals on strategy because of that intangible personal touch and passion for the subject.
Many of the concepts in this books are still somewhat advanced, not necessary in their formulation which is easy to understand even for a B level like myself but in their application which may start at our level of understanding and increase in sophistication all the way to Master level.
I feel that all players starting with the low C levels and going at least to Expert, should either read this book or at least get somehow acquainted with the concepts expounded if they want to progress.
With all due respect to the most popular authors of our days, including Silman and Watson may understand chess but still cannot explain the deeper truths of strategy quite as clearly. In my amateur opinion, they simply repeat what the better writers like Nimzowitch, Euwe, Capablanca or Tarrash already said, sometimes trying to digest it harder for lesser levels and sometimes making it more complex than their audience could take.
And while repetition itself has some merits, to rephrase the concept in a different language appropriate for a different time, the golden classics that were written so long ago are still just as clear to me and more relevant to my play than what some IMs would want their audience to believe.
I believe that if one wants to understand the mechanisms of chess games they should go to the source of it all and see how such concepts started. Nimzowitch is one of the best to start the investigation with, if slightly more advanced that his other famous contemporaries, and in all honestly, his style doesn't rub me the wrong way because instead of validating his own ego, like Silman or Watson, he elevates the wisdom of chess itself above all.
Of course if one seeks to ease their way into strategy then a few good modern prerequisites to understanding Nimzowitch can be found with Jacob Aagaard, Andy Soltis or Neil McDonalds, all solid positional authors. I cannot sufficiently stress how much pleasure the book gave me and hope that it could benefit other players with its friendly style.
player and innovator, but also a gifted writer,
able to engage even my limited understanding.
Both of his books, My System and
Chess Praxis have become classics, legitimately. To my mind reading Nimzowitch is more engaging that most chess manuals on strategy because of that intangible personal touch and passion for the subject.
Many of the concepts in this books are still somewhat advanced, not necessary in their formulation which is easy to understand even for a B level like myself but in their application which may start at our level of understanding and increase in sophistication all the way to Master level.
I feel that all players starting with the low C levels and going at least to Expert, should either read this book or at least get somehow acquainted with the concepts expounded if they want to progress.
With all due respect to the most popular authors of our days, including Silman and Watson may understand chess but still cannot explain the deeper truths of strategy quite as clearly. In my amateur opinion, they simply repeat what the better writers like Nimzowitch, Euwe, Capablanca or Tarrash already said, sometimes trying to digest it harder for lesser levels and sometimes making it more complex than their audience could take.
And while repetition itself has some merits, to rephrase the concept in a different language appropriate for a different time, the golden classics that were written so long ago are still just as clear to me and more relevant to my play than what some IMs would want their audience to believe.
I believe that if one wants to understand the mechanisms of chess games they should go to the source of it all and see how such concepts started. Nimzowitch is one of the best to start the investigation with, if slightly more advanced that his other famous contemporaries, and in all honestly, his style doesn't rub me the wrong way because instead of validating his own ego, like Silman or Watson, he elevates the wisdom of chess itself above all.
Of course if one seeks to ease their way into strategy then a few good modern prerequisites to understanding Nimzowitch can be found with Jacob Aagaard, Andy Soltis or Neil McDonalds, all solid positional authors. I cannot sufficiently stress how much pleasure the book gave me and hope that it could benefit other players with its friendly style.
Review Date: 1/30/2015
This book as well as the famous Reassess your Chess,
and Turning Misconceptions into Mastery are the books
that made Jeremy Silman legitimately popular with amateurs(below master level) players. His endgame course is supposed to be equally good but I haven't read it myself to know.
Silman's style in this book is to illustrate with a
diagram each concept in this vast dictionary that stretches from the opening phase all the way to the endgame.
The openings are showcased well, instead of list of variations Silman provides smallish but succinct plans for both sides, and that includes some less main stream openings like Alekhine and Botvinnik Formation.
In the middle game, there are many concepts illustrated, minority attack is one example.
The endgame shows a few basic endgame concepts in a nutshell.
The book provides a brief summary for most ideas defined. It is not designed probably for advanced study but better suited for a quick reference for self study or even in conjunction with other books.
The main reason I am giving it up is that as a B level I define my own plans for self improvement and my main lack is in the tactical area with which this book, written by an author established clearly as positional, cannot help me a bit.
Instead I was forced to turn for help to greater authorities with tactics. If I saw this book as a D or C level it would probably help me progress faster since then I lacked the positional nuggets it teaches.
and Turning Misconceptions into Mastery are the books
that made Jeremy Silman legitimately popular with amateurs(below master level) players. His endgame course is supposed to be equally good but I haven't read it myself to know.
Silman's style in this book is to illustrate with a
diagram each concept in this vast dictionary that stretches from the opening phase all the way to the endgame.
The openings are showcased well, instead of list of variations Silman provides smallish but succinct plans for both sides, and that includes some less main stream openings like Alekhine and Botvinnik Formation.
In the middle game, there are many concepts illustrated, minority attack is one example.
The endgame shows a few basic endgame concepts in a nutshell.
The book provides a brief summary for most ideas defined. It is not designed probably for advanced study but better suited for a quick reference for self study or even in conjunction with other books.
The main reason I am giving it up is that as a B level I define my own plans for self improvement and my main lack is in the tactical area with which this book, written by an author established clearly as positional, cannot help me a bit.
Instead I was forced to turn for help to greater authorities with tactics. If I saw this book as a D or C level it would probably help me progress faster since then I lacked the positional nuggets it teaches.
Dangerous Weapons: The Dutch: Dazzle Your Opponents! (Everyman Chess Series)
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
1
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
1
Review Date: 9/2/2019
Richard Palliser is a a thorough author and player but GM Simon Kim Williams is so much more. Just listen to one of his videos, it is like watching one of those musicians, such as Jimi Hendrix, and enjoying the power of their personality.
Williams played for and against the Dutch, some of his ideas for the Dutch and against it, got this low level B into trouble, due to my own lack of flexbility and knowledge, but always in good fun.
An interesting addition to the repertoire of a d4 player. If you know how to tackle the Dutch and KID, you have half the job done on amateur levels and this book was helping me until I switched back to e4.
Williams played for and against the Dutch, some of his ideas for the Dutch and against it, got this low level B into trouble, due to my own lack of flexbility and knowledge, but always in good fun.
An interesting addition to the repertoire of a d4 player. If you know how to tackle the Dutch and KID, you have half the job done on amateur levels and this book was helping me until I switched back to e4.
Review Date: 2/1/2015
All the Nunn books are well crafted.
This book is a nice tactics trainer too, has some
interesting and unfamiliar positions that are hard
to crack.
The main reason I had to part ways with this book was
when I realized it did not quite fit my self study program. When reaching my B level I came to the
conclusion that the main thing from my progress was consistency.
This book did not reinforce the patterns I was already familiar with but introduced instead too many new patterns that did not entirely in my imagination overlap with one another. The learning of new tactical patterns is naturally an awesome thing, but I will have to return to those at a later stage of my development, when the ones I did study I can convincingly apply.
So while the book provides a remarkable workout and the author is a respected authority, I don't think the majority of these puzzles is for my level. I feel confident in my ability to solve at least some A level tactical puzzles, I have in the past, but these appear to require more understanding of the position than I ever have to demonstrate before. Based on that imperfect estimate, I speculate that the more advanced puzzles might be better suited for a different audience, mid A to Expert levels.
This book is a nice tactics trainer too, has some
interesting and unfamiliar positions that are hard
to crack.
The main reason I had to part ways with this book was
when I realized it did not quite fit my self study program. When reaching my B level I came to the
conclusion that the main thing from my progress was consistency.
This book did not reinforce the patterns I was already familiar with but introduced instead too many new patterns that did not entirely in my imagination overlap with one another. The learning of new tactical patterns is naturally an awesome thing, but I will have to return to those at a later stage of my development, when the ones I did study I can convincingly apply.
So while the book provides a remarkable workout and the author is a respected authority, I don't think the majority of these puzzles is for my level. I feel confident in my ability to solve at least some A level tactical puzzles, I have in the past, but these appear to require more understanding of the position than I ever have to demonstrate before. Based on that imperfect estimate, I speculate that the more advanced puzzles might be better suited for a different audience, mid A to Expert levels.
Review Date: 3/28/2014
You will probably remember the translator Silverman from his wonderful work with a famous analysis course by Fikhtengols, here the text is once more readable and flowing. The topics starts with introductory material but move on beyond the basic combinatorics everybody already knows and into the more important topics you will meet at the more thorough probability courses: random variables, expectations, Markov. The community college students would find it probably too advanced, because of its depth.
I think this book has a nice transition from senior undergrad program to basic graduate concepts,there are enough interesting exercises to test yourself with. The book is too short to be used for reference throughout the entire Probability courses MIT style, but it does touch on many of your instructor's favorites. Furthermore, the succinct style made it easier for me to see how the various topics related to each other.
I think this book has a nice transition from senior undergrad program to basic graduate concepts,there are enough interesting exercises to test yourself with. The book is too short to be used for reference throughout the entire Probability courses MIT style, but it does touch on many of your instructor's favorites. Furthermore, the succinct style made it easier for me to see how the various topics related to each other.
Problems and Theorems in Analysis I: Series, Integral Calculus, Theory of Functions (Springer Study Edition)
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
1
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
1
Review Date: 3/28/2014
If you are looking at this book you must be serious about your analysis and have heard the name of one of the coauthors before. Polya is famous of course for some of the first works on problem solving.
This is another classic and the style of its presentation is very interesting. The problems in analysis are not just advanced, they are roughly Putnam level. Moreover together they seem to form a coherent picture of the entire topic covered in a single section.
Most of the theorems you could need are themselves posed as exercises. Honestly, Walter Rudin's exercises, in his smaller and greater books on analysis were dull for me. This one is a more exciting collection of exercises and they are still accessible enough to the average math major in an honors class.
If you want something stimulating,this books appears to be very thorough, covering most of undergraduate analysis. In my opinion, if the book consisted of one section only, dedicated to convergent series, it would already be worth its money.
This is another classic and the style of its presentation is very interesting. The problems in analysis are not just advanced, they are roughly Putnam level. Moreover together they seem to form a coherent picture of the entire topic covered in a single section.
Most of the theorems you could need are themselves posed as exercises. Honestly, Walter Rudin's exercises, in his smaller and greater books on analysis were dull for me. This one is a more exciting collection of exercises and they are still accessible enough to the average math major in an honors class.
If you want something stimulating,this books appears to be very thorough, covering most of undergraduate analysis. In my opinion, if the book consisted of one section only, dedicated to convergent series, it would already be worth its money.
Schaum's Outline of Probability, Random Variables, and Random Processes
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
1
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
1
Review Date: 4/23/2014
Chapter 1: Probability
Chapter 2:Random Variables
Chapter 3:Multiple Random Variables
Chapter 4:Functions of Random Variables, Expectations, Limit Theorems
Chapter 5:Random Processes
Chapter 6:Analysis and Processing of Random Processes
Chapter 7:Estimation Theory
Chapter 8:Decision Theory
Chapter 9:Queueing Theory
Appendix A: Normal Distribution
Appendix B:Fourier Transform
B1: Continuous Time Fourier Transform
B2: Discrete Time Fourier Transform
This book covers some basics like the axiomatic definition of probability, conditional probability and algebra of sets. It touches on many topics, I was surprised to find applications to electricity here,even though when explained, they do make perfect sense.
Schaum's contains many exercises that lose their mysterious and intimidating character once they are clearly explained. I don't think it in itself would be sufficient to prepare for a solid MIT/Berkley type of course but it does seem to address any lesser needs and can prepare even a serious if inexperienced student for dealing with more sophisticated material.
From the technical point of view, the integrals are pretty typical for probability, you probably saw them before in your Calculus or introductory Probability course and should experience no difficulty with those.
Even the prerequisites mentioned in the beginning of the book I find largely unnecessary, the author does a good job of building up from scratch and does not engage in too many complex technicalities.
Chapter 2:Random Variables
Chapter 3:Multiple Random Variables
Chapter 4:Functions of Random Variables, Expectations, Limit Theorems
Chapter 5:Random Processes
Chapter 6:Analysis and Processing of Random Processes
Chapter 7:Estimation Theory
Chapter 8:Decision Theory
Chapter 9:Queueing Theory
Appendix A: Normal Distribution
Appendix B:Fourier Transform
B1: Continuous Time Fourier Transform
B2: Discrete Time Fourier Transform
This book covers some basics like the axiomatic definition of probability, conditional probability and algebra of sets. It touches on many topics, I was surprised to find applications to electricity here,even though when explained, they do make perfect sense.
Schaum's contains many exercises that lose their mysterious and intimidating character once they are clearly explained. I don't think it in itself would be sufficient to prepare for a solid MIT/Berkley type of course but it does seem to address any lesser needs and can prepare even a serious if inexperienced student for dealing with more sophisticated material.
From the technical point of view, the integrals are pretty typical for probability, you probably saw them before in your Calculus or introductory Probability course and should experience no difficulty with those.
Even the prerequisites mentioned in the beginning of the book I find largely unnecessary, the author does a good job of building up from scratch and does not engage in too many complex technicalities.
Review Date: 8/27/2019
Neil McDonald is known as a positional player. His presentation is not only lucid for Dutch itself, but a few ideas can be transferred to similar pawn structures.
I was able to transpose to some variations of the French and KID, depending on which was relevant, and play more strategically than tactically. The main reason I am giving this book up is because I have realized myself to be able to use the Tal style more so than the Karpov one, though I can theoretically appreciate both:)
I think you are going to learn much from this book regardless, I know I did.
I was able to transpose to some variations of the French and KID, depending on which was relevant, and play more strategically than tactically. The main reason I am giving this book up is because I have realized myself to be able to use the Tal style more so than the Karpov one, though I can theoretically appreciate both:)
I think you are going to learn much from this book regardless, I know I did.
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