3: . , u, :‘5
This week's reviews were
very enjOyable to do, as we are
great bridge fans.Due to the
number of books that are being
reviewed,:we have recruited
that infamous bridge fiend,Dave
MacRae, to review along with us. All but two of these are Dover publications and are easily available through the Card Shop. The other two are not worth ordering.
The Dover publications' being reviewed this week are:
Duplicate Bridge—Alfred Shein—
wold $2.35
The Precision System— C.C. Wei
Bridge Squeezes Complete - Clyde Love $3.25 Bridge Conventions, Systems, and Plays —Terence Reese Play Bridge With Reese — Terence Reese $3.00
The Barclay publications: Elementary Bridge, and Intermediate Bridge, both by Shirley Silverman, and both $1..25. _
Alfred Sheinwold, one of the world's most prolific ( and best ) bridge writers, has clearly put together another winner in his Dupli- cate Bridge. While this book contains enough "meat" to satisfy even the most har— dened veteran of the tourna- ment curcuit,it is clearly aimed at the good rubber bridge player who wishes to expand his horizons by tac— kling the more challenging game of duplicate.
the bookworms /
albert and Wendy
As such, it does not tell you how to bid or play;rather
macdonald
.it delineates the differences between the two games. In sim-
ple concise language it des- cribes duplicate from the scoring to the bidding and v playing styles to the various systems utilized by modern duplicate players. It even contains a section on how to run your own duplicate match.
So, if your interest is in
the odd game around the Barn or in the residences, book is not for you. But if
you wish to expand your bridge- horizons a little,there is no,
better way than to arm your— self with a copy of Dupli- cate Bridge f7 and then haul your favorite partner off to the Charlottetown Duplicate Bridge Club (opposite the. Tack Room in the Islander ‘Motor Lodge, Monday and Fri- day nights at 8:00 p.m.) C.C.Wei's "The Preci—
'sion System" has to be among
the most useless and unintere esting accounts of this sys- tem available. Of the three p versions of this system which this writer has encountered -—Terence Reese's "Precision Bidding and Precision Play", Charles Goren's "Goren Pre— sents The Precision System", and Wei's, the latter must clearly rank a definite third. The explanatiOns are inade— quate, the writing is dull, and the tone self-righteous.
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Wei_may be justifiably proud of’having created Precision-- clearly the greatest advance in bidding theory sinCe the point-count 4— but as a writer he's a flop. The book's
'only redeeming feature is its
account of the system's early Success, and if that's what. you want, there are better sources.
’"Bridge Squeezes Complete" by Clyde Love is a superla— tive book which must be re— garded as the definitive man- ual on this difficult but important area of bridge play. In reading this book I was at once struck by a sense of de- light that someone had at last put together an account of squeezes which I could un— derstand. It is written in clear terse language which reveals much. 1
Its one weakness is at the same time its major strength —- that it reads like a textbook. It is un— doubtably necessary for it to do so in order to explain its subject completely. In fact it was the first book that I have read where I found it useful to have a deck of cards at my side in order to play out the hand. For those willing to take the time and energy ,this book could well.be the most valuable book on advanced plays that you will ever read.
Finally, we come to the five books by Terence Reese, considered by many to be thev greatest bridge player alive, and by many more (including myself) to be the greatest bridge writer. Note: Dué to lack of spacesome of these will be reviewed next week.
The first,"Bridge Conventions,
Systems, and Plays", may be dismissed quickly. While its
dietionary format enables it‘. to cover its subject adequatelyamp
even excellently,it suffers from the fault inherent in all dictionaries: great vocabulary, no plot.
In other words if a ' passing acquaintance with every major convention in use today is your desire then you need look no further., But if.you ex- pect this book to enable you to put together a cb— herent system of bidding and play—forget”it.
’ The second, though, cer— tainly deserves more than a
passing yawn. Play Bridge
With Breeze in sheervutility
readability, insight and just
plain enjoyment ranks far ahead of any other book - being reviewed this week.
In this book Reese lets us look at the thought process of an expert, show-
' ing us the opening bid
through to trick thirteen just how he thinks a _ hand through. A book that is designed more for the
- player with an ample know-
ledge of bridge it will.
be unreliable to your game.v With the ecomony of words
,and the sardonic comment that
we have come to expect from
this writer Mr. Reese has
created a winner. 1 We were under the impres—-
sion that Barclay Bridge supplies were the bridge book Suppliers of note.
. When we wrote for review
copies we held high hopes . of what/they would be send— ing us. Our hopes were dashed when we received two pam- phlets for which they had the audacity to charge $1.25 each. These books give a rather Cursory examination of bridge in it's most~ rudimentary terms. Ms. Silvarman makes astoundb ing generalities which this writer feels docs 'more harm than good for example: Ms. Silverman ' says that in a no trump contract always refuse to win a trick the first or second time a suit is played to break communicL ations. .While this maybe an excellent idea in certain situations in no,g way is it an unwritten or written law. ' The pamphlets are written in textbook form with answers at the bottom of pages. Th author goes from extremely simple things to abstract laws which the beginner could not possibly follow in a regular game. For ex— le on the same page
she says count your
points and then goes on _to another law—find the opponents Weaknesses.. What puzzles me is that she has not told the be— ginner what are weaknesses and how the neophyte goes about finding them.
' To sum up these books are poorly written, cheaply produced and overpriced. If Barclay Bridge supplies want to sell there works I hope they will come out with better materials.
As we’have eleven bridge books to review we will complete them next week. Special-' thanks to Dave as he. has completed.about' 90% Of these reviews.