Outstanding book, April 7, 2005
 

Read this. The authors explain the process of evaluating the position in depth and how to think of positions

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Great Info But Too Many Unexplained Terms, June 29, 2004
Reviewer: A reader
This is a terrific book, full of insightful and thought provoking information that will surely improve anyone's game. However, the authors have chosen a very conversational writing style that presupposes their readers are familiar with advanced "Backgammon Speak". I for one was not up to speed on this and find the use of unknown and unexplained terms both frustrating and annoying! Clearly anyone purchasing this book is interested in learning and in most cases is probably playing at an intermediate level. To assume that readers at such a level would already be fluent in advanced "Backgammon Speak" is short sided and makes comprehending the wonderful information presented unnecessarily confusing. I have since found an online glossary of backgammon terminology and reference it often while reading this book. At the very least a glossary should have been included or an even better approach would have been to explain some of the more obscure terms the first time they are used.

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4 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

Fantastic from begineers to experts, July 9, 2000
 

The New Ideas in Backgammon published in 2000 truley out does Woolsey and Heinrichs 1996 book of the same title. One would ask, whats new? Having started playing backgammon on the internet, I find the 2000 edition complete with tips on the various tournaments, and competions found on the internet sites, such as fibs and pogo. Highly recommend the insights, improves your game. See you all at the tables!

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

How to think about backgammon, December 22, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
This is a fantastic book for the intermediate and advanced player. The authors skillfully dissect 104 difficult positions, pointing out even the most subtle aspects. It is this careful observing and weighing, done out-loud, that makes this book so valuable. In the end, you learn much more than the solutions to these specific problems -- you learn how to reason about all future postions you encounter.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

Outstanding work, July 7, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
This book will take its place on my bookshelf next to Magriel's Backgammon and Robertie's two-volume Advanced Backgammon. The material is exceptional in all respects. First of all, this is a book of 104 problems that have been systematically selected to give experts fits. In fact, in every case a majority of 11 experts (the game's actual player, the two authors, plus a panel of 8) failed to find the correct move. Additionally, the correct moves have been validated by extensive human and computer analysis, so this book doesn't have the "error rate" that other books have. The authors are world-class players and world-class teachers of backgammon, so the writing is clear and crisp. A fantastic book.

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4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

Study this book because your opponents sure will., February 24, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
Backgammon is wildly popular these days with Internet tournaments (and those kind you have to roll the dice in) mobbed. You can have a lot of fun playing this game without sinking your teeth into the subtleties of the difficult problem positions in "New Ideas." If however, you would like to actually WIN one of these competitions - your chances would be greatly improved by taking up the challenge this book offers. Woolsey and Heinrich are able to verbalize how to make these difficult decisions and the concepts they introduce are widely applicable.

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