one of the first books on Go published in the west
another one from Crystalpunk:
[Wilfried] just found one of the first books on Go published in the west. It is called Go and Go-Moku, the Oriental Board Games, was written by Edward Lasker and first published in 1937. Dover Press keeps it in print. The preface contains enough fascinating bits for me to type and quote it here: it explains how Go reached the west, it discusses its reception here, it shows that the "wisdom" around Go was introduced to the west together with the actual game, and even gives a glimpse of how the West thought about the East at that time. …
Excerpts from the preface to Go and Go-Moku, Preface to First Edition:
I learned to play Go in 1907 while studying at the University of Berlin, where I has occasion to watch Japanese students in their leisure hours engage in the game with astounding perseverance and passion. At first I scoffed at their claim that Go was comparable in depth to our game of Chess. On second thought, however, I realized that my Occidental pride was quite unfounded, because chess, after all, was also an Oriental game. I studied Go without prejudice and actually became one of its ardent apostles.
My friends to whom I showed the game—some of them Chess lovers and some addicted to cards—soon preferred it, like myself, to all other games they knew. When I left Germany in 1912, the knowledge of the game had spread considerably and an enthusiast in Dresden had started a monthly Go-magazine, which is still flourishing today.
In this country [the USA] my experience was quite similar. Friends to whom I explained the game were fascinated by it, if they were at all of the type who play games occasionally. In fact, I saw it convert people who had always looked down upon any game as a pure waste of time. An amusing example of this type was a busy executive of a large Chicago concern who had permitted me grudgingly to explain the game to him and his wife. When I met him a year later, he told me he had cursed the day he learned to play Go, because his inability to withstand its fascination irritated him beyond measure. It had almost become a ritual with him to play at least one game with his wife every night.
The reason for the strong fascination which the game exerts is not difficult to find. I know of no other game in which extreme simplicity of rules is coupled with such wealth of combinations. One can leans the rules of the game in less than five minutes; but—to quote an Oriental exaggeration—it takes thirty years to master it. It is too bad this is not quite true. I believe we remain interested in a game as long as it mystifies us. As soon as we know all about it play becomes mechanical and boresome.
There are of course, many people who do not want to concentrate for any length of time when they play a game, and evidently their number is large in the Orient, too, for on the same board and which much the same men which serve for the game of Go a much easier game, called Go-Moku, is widely played.
Several versions of the game of Go have been suggested, retaining its rules, but reducing the size of the board, in order to shorten the game and to make it more easily mastered. The disadvantage of such versions is that though they are quite useful in training the beginner in the proper handling of tactical encounters, they materially decrease the opportunity for large-scale strategic operations which are really the most fascinating part of the game. The smaller size of board permitting strategic planning of any appreciable scope is one of 13 x 13 lines.
In the Orient, the strongest Go masters are found in Japan, though the present world champion, Lin Kai Ho, as well as his predecessor, Go Sei Gen, are Chinese. They emigrated to Japan as the invitation of the Japanese Go Association. The tremendous popularity of the game in Japan is strikingly illustrated by the fact that during match games for the National championship large Go boards can be seen on street corners in cities throughout the land, with crowds watching as every move is recorded, much in the manner of baseball score boards during the world series games in our country.
The fact that a large part of the Japanese population is capable of following with intense interest an abstract board game as Go shows their innate intelligence and culture. My Chicago friend who resented the irresistible attraction of Go said to me with good reason: "A nation which plays this game is to be reckoned with."
I am convinced that Go will gradually share with Chess the leading position among intellectual games in the Occident, just as it has reigned supreme in the Orient for the last three to four thousand years. As a matter of fact, Go has actually replaced Chess as the favorite pastime of a great many people who are familiar with both games, particularly mathematicians and physicists.
Edward Lasker, 1937
post from Crystalpunk