On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:13 AM, Álvaro Begué <alvaro.be...@gmail.com> wrote: [... Read "Winning Ways" first...]
> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:53 AM, Aldric Giacomoni <ald...@trevoke.net> wrote: >> Has anyone read this book? >> http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/176-9930046-0953944?a=1568810326 >> >> What do you think of the contents? You can see and hear Elwyn Berlekamp delivering a 2006 talk about "Mathematics and Go" (culminating in a discussion of "coupon go") at: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=005B561126D6A51E . The content of that video is interesting for at least one reason: Berlekamp was speaking to a crowd of non-go-players, and so his historical "fluff" is well-designed for giving such an audience a quick introduction to the historical significance of go in Asian culture, comparing it to the letters and science of Europe over the same time period. Berlekamp spoke to the "Letters and Science Faculty Forum" of the UC-Berkeley Faculty Club. Among other things, he also analyzes the endgame from a go game between "Jujo" Jiang and Rui, Naiwei. Perhaps it was false modesty on his part, but it seemed to me that Berlekamp knows full well that his own work is just a drop in the bucket, and that future go-mathematicians would ultimately, inevitably, go far beyond his meager efforts. As Álvaro notes: > The whole theory is fascinating, but in the case of go it's only > relevant when the game has been reduced to a number of completely > independent small regions (if at all). I don't have the book with me > to check, but I think they didn't have a good way to analyze kos. I think that Berlekamp would admit to the irrelevance and incompleteness of his own work, if you pressed him on it. The video is definitely worth a look. -- Rich _______________________________________________ computer-go mailing list computer-go@computer-go.org http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/
