mclure%Sri-Unix@sri-unix.UUCP (08/17/84)
First it was THE JOY OF COOKING. Then it was THE JOY OF SEX. Now we have THE JOY OF COMPUTER CHESS. Fortunately, this book lives up to the reputations of its predecessors. This book did quite a bit to raise my opinion of Levy's writings. I had always regarded him as the main "popularizer" of computer chess, not really offering much other than good game reviews (even these were suspect!). But with THE JOY OF COMPUTER CHESS, Levy enters the ranks of excellent computer chess authors. His book is comprehensive, short, and a delight. He discusses position representation, move generation, position evaluation, tree searching, search strategies, best computer games, the strength of machines, how to play against machines, and what to look for in a chess computer. This book aims to be the ultimate concise computer chess book. I do not think I have read any other book or article on computer chess that is as comprehensive as this is, and yet it is so short, only a bit over 100 pages. I have now revised my recommendation on chess books. If someone wants a good introduction that treats some more complex issues, this is the one. Stuart