Book picks similar to
How I Beat Fischer's Record by Judit Polgár


chess
learn-chess
must-read-schaken
chess-biographies

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess


Bobby Fischer - 1966
    The way a teaching machine works is: It asks you a question. If you give the right answer, it goes on to the next question. If you give the wrong answer, it tells you why the answer is wrong and tells you to go back and try again. This is called "programmed learning". The real authors were experts and authorities in the field of programmed learning. Bobby Fischer lent his name to the project. Stuart Margulies is a chess master and also a recognized authority on programmed learning. He is a widely published author of more than 40 books, all in the field of programmed learning, especially in learning how to read. For example, one of his books is "Critical reading for proficiency 1 : introductory level". Donn Mosenfelder is not a known or recognized chess player, but he was the owner of the company that developed and designed this book. He has written more than 25 books, almost all on basic reading, writing and math.

Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur


Max Euwe - 1962
    What better way could the amateur have of learning to exploit the weak play of fellow amateurs than to study how a master would handle such situations? Selected by former World Chess Champion Max Euwe and Walter Meiden, a typical amateur player, the games point out graphically how the chess master takes advantage of characteristic errors of the amateur.In general, the games have been presented in order of the degree of skill of the amateur. The early games were played against beginners; later games, against "coffeehouse" players of various skill levels; the last games, against amateur "book" players. Each game, with commentary by Dr. Euwe, was chosen to illustrate a specific aspect of chess, from various openings to a number of typical chess situations. By carefully studying these games, the amateur player will learn how to recognize and avoid a variety of weak strategic and tactical moves.Dr. Euwe's helpful and informative commentary on each contest consists of a discussion of significant moves in the game, an analysis of the opening used and explanations of important chess concepts as they arise. Often, he includes a detailed analysis of tactical variations that might have been played as alternatives. The result is an indispensable aid for amateurs seeking to raise the quality of their games as well as a book that can be read with profit by chess players at every level of expertise.

Baseball Prospectus 2013


Baseball Prospectus - 2013
    Baseball Prospectus 2013 brings together an elite group of analysts to provide the definitive look at the upcoming season in critical essays and commentary on the thirty teams, their managers, and more than sixty players and prospects from each team.Contains critical essays on each of the thirty teams and player comments for some sixty players for each of those teamsProjects each player's stats for the coming season using the groundbreaking PECOTA projection system, which has been called "perhaps the game's most accurate projection model" (Sports Illustrated)From Baseball Prospectus, America's leading provider of statistical analysis for baseballNow in its eighteenth edition, this New York Times bestselling insider's guide remains hands down the most authoritative and entertaining book of its kind.

Birth of the Chess Queen: A History


Marilyn Yalom - 2004
    It wasn't until chess became a popular pastime for European royals during the Middle Ages that the queen was born and was gradually empowered to become the king's fierce warrior and protector.Birth of the Chess Queen examines the five centuries between the chess queen's timid emergence in the early days of the Holy Roman Empire to her elevation during the reign of Isabel of Castile. Marilyn Yalom, inspired by a handful of surviving medieval chess queens, traces their origin and spread from Spain, Italy, and Germany to France, England, Scandinavia, and Russia. In a lively and engaging historical investigation, Yalom draws parallels between the rise of the chess queen and the ascent of female sovereigns in Europe, presenting a layered, fascinating history of medieval courts and internal struggles for power.

Behind The White Ball


Jimmy White - 1998
    Aged 16, White was the youngest player to win the English Amateur Championship. At 18, he won the World Amateur title. By 1984, he's a professional success, married but not at all settled. He's the kind of man who goes out for a packet of cigarettes and comes home two weeks later. Gambling, women, marathon binges with showbiz friends like Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, have threatened the stability of his marriage. But somehow White has survived, to tell in candid detail, a most unusual, often outrageous story of a very sporting life.

They Don't Play Hockey in Heaven: A Dream, A Team, and My Comeback Season


Ken Baker - 2003
    . . colorful descriptions make this a fun read." -Los Angeles Times "One of the best sports books of the year." -Booklist Ken Baker wanted nothing more than to play ice hockey with the pros-until a brain tumor cut his dreams short while in college. After surgery and several years of rehab, Baker, who in high school was a top prospect for the U.S. Olympic team, put his successful journalism career on hold to attempt the seemingly impossible: a comeback. He moved away from his family to become the third-string goalie for the Bakersfield Condors, an AA-level minor-league team in the dusty oil town of Bakersfield, California. At the age of thirty-one, Baker became the oldest rookie in all of pro-hockey, facing 100-m.p.h. slap shots and long bus rides, hostile fans and cheap motel rooms, body bruises, and battle-worn teammates. From his visit to an NHL training camp to his first nerve-rattled minutes as a pro, Baker joins the rookies who still dream of making it to the Show, the veterans long past their prime, and the obsessive fans who keep them going. When the season is over, Baker's pro-hockey adventure ends up teaching him nearly everything he will ever need to know about life.

Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players


Stefan Fatsis - 2001
    But for every group of "living-room players" there is someone who is "at one with the board." In Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis introduces readers to those few, exploring the underground world of colorful characters for which the Scrabble game is life — playing competitively in tournaments across the country. It is also the story of how the Scrabble game was invented by an unemployed architect during the Great Depression and how it has grown into the hugely successful, challenging, and beloved game it is today. Along the way, Fatsis chronicles his own obsession with the game and his development as a player from novice to expert. More than a book about hardcore Scrabble players, Word Freak is also an examination of notions of brilliance, memory, language, competition, and the mind that celebrates the uncanny creative powers in us all.

I’m Fine…And Other Lies by Whitney Cummings | Conversation Starters


Daily Books - 2017
    The novel draws on the author’s trademark staples of humor and wit, supplying readers with honest and at times, shockingly embarrassing tales. The novel provides a been-there-done-that perspective, offering the insights of one who has spent much of her life dealing with the issues she details.Whitney Cummings presents “I’m Fine…And Other Lies” with a strikingly witty and self-deprecating tone, reflecting on her past mistakes and presenting them for the reader to learn and benefit from. Praised for its sincerity and humorous quality, this book aims to entertain as much as it aims to comfort.A Brief Look Inside:EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive, and the characters and its world still live on. Conversation Starters is peppered with questions designed to bring us beneath the surface of the page and invite us into the world that lives on.These questions can be used to...Create Hours of Conversation:• Promote an atmosphere of discussion for groups• Foster a deeper understanding of the book• Assist in the study of the book, either individually or corporately• Explore unseen realms of the book as never seen beforeDisclaimer: This book you are about to enjoy is an independent resource meant to supplement the original book. If you have not yet read the original book, we encourage doing before purchasing this unofficial Conversation Starters.

All the Wrong Moves: A Memoir about Chess, Love, and Ruining Everything


Sasha Chapin - 2019
    Like countless amateurs before him--Albert Einstein, Humphrey Bogart, Marcel Duchamp--the game has consumed his life and his mind. First captivated by it as a member of his high school chess club, his passion was rekindled during an accidental encounter with chess hustlers on the streets of Kathmandu. In its aftermath, he forgot how to care about anything else. He played at all hours, for weeks at a time. Like a spurned lover, he tried to move on, but he found the game more seductive the more he resisted it.And so, he thought, if he can't defeat his obsession, he had to succumb to it. All the Wrong Moves traces Chapin's rollicking two-year journey around the globe in search of glory. He travels to tournaments in Bangkok and Hyderabad. He seeks out a mentor in St. Louis, a grandmaster whose personality is half rabbi and half monk, and who offers cryptic wisdom and caustic insults ("you're the best player in your chair"). His story builds toward the Los Angeles Open, where Chapin is clearly outmatched and yet no less determined not to lose.Along the way, he chronicles the highs and lows of his fixation, driven on this quest by lust, terror, and the elusive possibility of victory. Stylish, inventive, and laugh-out-loud funny, All the Wrong Moves is more than a work of history or autobiography. It's a celebration of the purity, violence, and beauty of the game.

Harry Anderson's Games You Can't Lose: A Guide for Suckers


Harry Anderson - 1989
    Now, Harry shares many of his hilarious insider tips.

The Chess Player's Bible


James Eade - 2004
    Here's an entertaining and informative manual for beginners, but it's filled with tips and techniques learners will retain and successfully employ as their skill develops and they match themselves against experienced players. With annotated illustrations and more than 300 examples, this fascinating manual demonstrates*Openings used by international masters, including the Ruy Lopez, the Queen's Gambit Declined, the Sicilian Defense, and others*Basic and advanced strategies, tactics, sacrifices, and pawn structure to help learners master the chess middle game*End game, with emphasis on use of rooks and pawnsIt's a comprehensive and compact reference that will find a ready place in school and private chess clubs. This book will also be a favorite among individuals who wish to discover chess as a pleasurable way to spend a social evening.

Mi Vida Loca: The Crazy Life of Johnny Tapia


Johnny Tapia - 2005
    Fighting against your opponent and fighting against your own inner demons become one in the same. Those who survive both in and out of the ring are beloved worldwide, and those who do not spiral downward into drugs, prison, and even murder. This title tells the legendary tale of Johnny Tapia's life.

Call of Duty: Black Ops


Brady Games - 2010
    DETAILED ANALYSIS reveals their strengths and weaknesses, and how to use them to maximum effect.GRIPPING ARTWORK makes This guide a MUST-HAVE Collectible for any Call of Duty fan.ACHIEVEMENT and TROPHY ROSTERS describe how to earn rewards and unlock SPECIAL features and items.Exclusive MAPS illustrate the levels and pinpoint mission-critical items and locations.UNCOMPROMISING MULTIPLAYER coverage provides expert tactics for every type of Co-Op, Team-Based, and Head-to-Head play mode.

Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses


Claire Dederer - 2010
    All was white and blond and clean, as though the room had been designed for surgery, or Swedish people. The only spot of color came from the Tibetan prayer flags strung over the doorway into the studio. In flagrant defiance of my longtime policy of never entering a structure adorned with Tibetan prayer flags, I removed my shoes, paid my ten bucks, and walked in . . .Ten years ago, Claire Dederer put her back out while breastfeeding her baby daughter. Told to try yoga by everyone from the woman behind the counter at the co-op to the homeless guy on the corner, she signed up for her first class. She fell madly in love.Over the next decade, she would tackle triangle, wheel, and the dreaded crow, becoming fast friends with some poses and developing long-standing feuds with others. At the same time, she found herself confronting the forces that shaped her generation. Daughters of women who ran away to find themselves and made a few messes along the way, Dederer and her peers grew up determined to be good, good, good—even if this meant feeling hemmed in by the smugness of their organic-buying, attachment-parenting, anxiously conscientious little world. Yoga seemed to fit right into this virtuous program, but to her surprise, Dederer found that the deeper she went into the poses, the more they tested her most basic ideas of what makes a good mother, daughter, friend, wife—and the more they made her want something a little less tidy, a little more improvisational. Less goodness, more joy.Poser is unlike any other book about yoga you will read—because it is actually a book about life. Witty and heartfelt, sharp and irreverent, Poser is for anyone who has ever tried to stand on their head while keeping both feet on the ground.

Fighter


Andy Lee - 2018
    Leaving home for the dust and faded glamour of Detroit, over the next ten years, under the guidance of the legendary Emamuel Steward, he set about honing his craft, winning fight after fight and slowly climbing the professional ranks.Then, in 2012, his star ascendant, Lee suffered two devastating blows in quick succession: defeat in his first World Championship bout and the sudden loss of Steward, his guide and confidant. Bereft, his career in jeopardy, the path to redemption would test every hard-won lesson of the previous decade …Fighter is a lyrical and philosophical memoir about resilience, bravery and the wisdom to be found at the limits of human experience.