Wow! I love Takeo’s writing style. He approaches the game with such a reverence and intensity. I feel like reading this restructured a fundamental way I saw the game. Reading this made me see with much more clarity stones’ relationships one to another…and the power they cast over the entire board.
I read this as an 8k, and while I learned a lot, much of it was beyond my ability.
One of my favorite Go quotes of all time, from the first chapter: “Every time you place a stone on the board you are exposing something of yourself. It is not just a piece of slate, shell or plastic. You have entrusted to that stone your feelings, your individuality, your will power, and once it is played there is no going back. Each stone carries a great responsibility on your behalf.”