The Chess Mind

The Chess Mind

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p

Joined
01 Apr 05
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8760
22 Apr 07

Wondering if any of you have read it. I bought it today for a dollar so it is no big investment for me, but for those of you who have read it, is it any good?

SS

Joined
15 Aug 05
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96595
22 Apr 07

Y

Joined
29 Jul 06
Moves
2414
22 Apr 07
1 edit

it's not a very good sign when nobody has ever heard of the book. But if it was a dollar then either
A) it was used and beaten to a condition relative to wet newspaper
B) it's not a very good book

but if it was only a dollar then how can you go wrong?😀

MR

Joined
19 Jun 06
Moves
847
22 Apr 07

A whole dollar, huh? Then I guess it's more an issue of investment of time rather than money. Is this "The Chess Mind" by Abrahams, or the one titled "Inside the Chess Mind" by Aagaard? (I haven't read either one, but I've seen a review of the Aagard book and a few comments about the other one.)

Luso-brasileiro

Cajamar, SP

Joined
28 Dec 04
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71714
23 Apr 07

Originally posted by prosoccer
Wondering if any of you have read it. I bought it today for a dollar so it is no big investment for me, but for those of you who have read it, is it any good?
Dr. Adrian de Groot, Ueber das Denken der Schachspieler;

Reuben Fine, The Psychology of the Chess Player.

p

Joined
01 Apr 05
Moves
8760
23 Apr 07

Originally posted by prosoccer
Wondering if any of you have read it. I bought it today for a dollar so it is no big investment for me, but for those of you who have read it, is it any good?
It is "The Chess Mind", by Gerald Abrahams.

MR

Joined
19 Jun 06
Moves
847
23 Apr 07

Originally posted by prosoccer
It is "The Chess Mind", by Gerald Abrahams.
If nobody who's read it posts an opinion, at least there's a mini-review from Rick Kennedy on the Chessville site (3rd item from the top of the list). Rick seemed to think it wasn't bad. It's a 50-year old book, written even before the groundbreaking de Groot book, but still somewhat entertaining. (De Groot's book is out of print and very hard to find.)

http://www.chessville.com/reviews/MyChessPsychologyBookshelf.htm

p

Joined
01 Apr 05
Moves
8760
23 Apr 07

Originally posted by Mad Rook
If nobody who's read it posts an opinion, at least there's a mini-review from Rick Kennedy on the Chessville site (3rd item from the top of the list). Rick seemed to think it wasn't bad. It's a 50-year old book, written even before the groundbreaking de Groot book, but still somewhat entertaining. (De Groot's book is out of print and very hard to find.)

http://www.chessville.com/reviews/MyChessPsychologyBookshelf.htm
Yes, thank you.

Joined
26 May 02
Moves
72546
23 Apr 07

I read 'The Chess Mind' about 30 years ago and it seemed old fashioned even then! I can't remember much about the book, other than that there were some unfunny anecdotes about politicians who played chess and a lot of amateur psychology.

MR

Joined
19 Jun 06
Moves
847
23 Apr 07

Hmm, it's beginning to sound like a wasted dollar. 😀 I'd read the book anyway, but that's just me.

p

Joined
01 Apr 05
Moves
8760
23 Apr 07

Originally posted by Mad Rook
Hmm, it's beginning to sound like a wasted dollar. 😀 I'd read the book anyway, but that's just me.
You can get 20 five cent gums for a dollar, and each five cent gum has a comic in it.

S

AsIn Chess,SoIn Life

Joined
22 Jan 09
Moves
1153
23 Mar 09

Originally posted by prosoccer
Wondering if any of you have read it. I bought it today for a dollar so it is no big investment for me, but for those of you who have read it, is it any good?
Out of the six hundred chess books in my active library, I have read or utilised at least two hundred.
Of these two hundred, hands down, THE CHESS MIND by Gerald Abrahams is the finest, most intelligent, most inspiring, most perceptive chess book I have ever read. (Runners-up are works by Marovic, Bronstein, Franco, Aagaard, Smyslov, Botvinnik, Lipnitsky, Gufeld, Znosko-Borovsky, Vukovic, Eingorn, and Suetin.)

After all, moves in chess reflect ideas, and THE CHESS MIND is a book about where the ideas come from. (In his own career, Gerald Abrahams was one of the few British masters able to defeat Sultan Khan.)

His chapters include How Battles are Won or Lost, Imagination, Thinking, Empirical Chess. . . My first copy is in tatters on my shelf -- and, is layered within the cerebral folds of my mind.

Without hesitation I buy every copy of this treasure I can find. I just purchased another today.

rc

Joined
26 Aug 07
Moves
38239
23 Mar 09
1 edit

Originally posted by Shamash
Out of the six hundred chess books in my active library, I have read or utilised at least two hundred.
Of these two hundred, hands down, THE CHESS MIND by Gerald Abrahams is the finest, most intelligent, most inspiring, most perceptive chess book I have ever read. (Runners-up are works by Marovic, Bronstein, Franco, Aagaard, Smyslov, Botvinnik, L ...[text shortened]... ithout hesitation I buy every copy of this treasure I can find. I just purchased another today.
Sultan Khan, peace be upon him! i am gonna search for this book, is it still in print? Just purchased it on Amazon for £0.01 plus £2.75 postage, Happy days!

MR

Joined
19 Jun 06
Moves
847
23 Mar 09

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Sultan Khan, peace be upon him! i am gonna search for this book, is it still in print? Just purchased it on Amazon for £0.01 plus £2.75 postage, Happy days!
£0.01? Times must really be tough for book sellers!