Beginners' English Go Books: Current and Historic

Some of these books include card Go sets, for instance "The Book of Go" and "Learn to Play Go Volume 1", and some were made for issue in Go sets, such as the Carlton Go Pack which contained Matthew Macfadyen's book.

You can see many of them on our list of Beginner's Book Recommendations.

Many listed are long out of print, but some of the very oldest have be reprinted in recent years and may still be available. Some are very new and have not been reviewed yet, and others have been published in America and are not so well known in the UK. Most of the UK, Japan and Korean published books, and those from the big Go publishers, have been more familiar in the UK.

Books are available from UK retailers or other foreign suppliers

Title CommentAuthor Publisher/Code
Teach Yourself Go /
Be a Master at Go
Very thorough,
UK author
Charles Matthews Teach Yourself
Learn to Play Go, Vol. 1 - 5Vol 1 has card Go set Janice Kim Good Move Press LPG1-LPG5
A Scientific Introduction to Go Yang Yu-Chia Yutopian Y34
Weiqi in Culture, Vol 1 - Introductory Teaching Lecture Wu Song Shen Yutopian Y41
Let's Play Go!For children Yasutoshi Yasuda Slate and Shell SL28
Graded Go Problems, Vol. 1Learn by problems Kano Yoshimori Kiseido K47 / Ishi Press GGP1
Baduk for BeginnersKorean authors Kim Sung-rae and Sung Ki-chang Korea ZBFB
Baduk Made Fun and Easy, Vol. 1 - 3 Nam Chihyung Eun Haeng NaMu ZBM1-ZBM3

Books available elsewhere

Title CommentAuthor Publisher/Code
How to Play Go. A Concise Introductionnew 2016 Richard Bozulich / James Davies Kiseido K??
Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game Cho Chikun Kiseido K50
Go for KidsFor younger players, American author Milton Bradley Yutopian Y31
Play Gowith copious diagrams Neil Moffatt NM01
Go for BeginnersOld classic Iwamoto Kaoru Penguin / Ishi Press
Invitation to Go John Fairbairn Dover
The Game of GoWith Carlton Go Pack Matthew Macfadyen Carlton
The Book of GoIncludes a card Go set William Cobb Sterling
So You Want to Play Go 1New in 2010 Jonathan Hop sundaygolessons.com (also electronic)
21st Century Baduk for BeginersNew Kim Sung-Rae/Sung Ki-Chang Global Baduk ZBFB
Oriental Strategy in a Nutshell (EZ-GO)From America Bruce Wilcox Wilcox EZGO
Go! More than a GameFrom America Peter Shotwell Tuttle
Go BasicsFrom America Peter Shotwell Tuttle
Beginning GoFrom America Peter Shotwell Tuttle
Four Great GamesGo plus Chess/ Chinese Chess/ Shogi Tony Hosking Shogi foundation
Go Fundamentals Shigeru Kishikawa Tuttle
Speed Baduk for Beginners9 volumes of problems + 3 answer volumes Kim Sung-Rae Oromedia
Level Up5 volumes + review volume, for children Lee Jae-Hwan Baduktopia
Go Made EasyNew Sam Sloane Ishi Press International

Out of Print and Classic Books

Title CommentAuthor Publisher/Code or Date
An Introduction to GoOut of Print James Davies and Richard Bozulich Ishi Press G30
Master Go in Ten DaysOut of Print Xu Xiang / Jin Jiang Zhang Yutopian Y11
The Magic of GoOut of Print Cho Chikun Ishi Press G41
Steppingstones to GoOld Classic Shigemi Kishikawa Tuttle 1965
The Theory and Practice of GoOld Classic O. Korschelt Tuttle 1965 orig. 1881
Go and Go MokuOld Classic Edward Lasker Dover orig. 1934
Go a Guide to the GameOld Classic D.B. Pritchard Faber 1973
How to Play GoOld Classic Kaku Takagawa Nihon Ki-in 1956
The Game of Wei-ChiOld Classic Daniele Pecorini and Tong Shu Longmans orig. 1929
The Game of Go: the National Game of JapanOld Classic Arthur Smith Tuttle 1956 orig. 1908

List produced December 2010 - Updated January 2017

Last updated Mon Oct 15 2018.
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