Beginner Books Recommendations

There are many books available which are suitable for beginners, so here we're giving you some recommendations as to the ones we think are important for you.

Prices are typical list prices as of December 2015.

Beware of unlisted books with the words basic or elementary in the title as what is elementary to a professional may not be so to others. It is better to take advice. The following books are suitable for beginners and those who have just learnt the rules, starting with the easiest.

The final two books are at the harder end of the range and are still suitable for players in the 15-20 kyu range.

Let’s Play Go	This simple introduction presents the approach to learning that has been developed in teaching thousands of children and adults how to play and enjoy an amazing game. Even a young child can immediately begin playing the 'first capture' version of Go, which is a fun and challenging game in itself. Not as extensive as the next two books for complete beginners. 74 pages.	£4.50
Teach Yourself Go	An inexpensive and thorough introduction to the game from the famous Teach Yourself series.	£6
Go : A Complete Introduction to the Game	Suitable for complete beginners, it presents rules, tactics and strategy in a step by step, easy to understand way. One of the best and most authoritative introductions to the game, it includes some brief items on the play of Go around the world. 136pp	£9
Graded Go Problems for Beginners Vol 1	This is an ideal book for a player who has just learned the rules of Go, with over 300 problems which get gradually harder and introduce a range of simple techniques. 220pp	£18
Simple Tesuji	A slim book that is readable shortly after learning the rules. It explains and gives names to a few elementary techniques and includes a number of problems to prove the reader’s understanding. 38pp	£5
Graded Go Problems Problems for Beginners Vol 2	Now we move somewhat beyond beginner level but this book of problems and solutions will be valuable to anyone who has mastered one of the earlier books and does not have a tutor. Moving beyond the cut and thrust of local fighting, the book includes some ideas of strategy for the open spaces. 250pp	£18
Go Proverbs	It is advisable to have played for a few months before tackling this book. It is included in the beginners’ list because, as the title indicates, it presents some very useful ideas in bite-sized chunks. 64pp.	£6.50