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Book Review: Level Up Review 1

Level Up Review 1 Cover

Description: Level Up Review 1 is part of the Level Up! Series that serves as a workbook in private go schools in Korea. Though designed for children, the content and practice provided is invaluable for adults and children alike.

Book Details

Title, Level Up Review 1
Series, Level Up! Series
Author, Lee Jae-Hwan
Translators, Lee Seong-Geun & Daniela Trinks
Supervisor, Yoo Chang-Hyuk (9P)
Publisher, Baduktopia
Published, “1st Edition: July 2008, 2nd Edition: October 23rd, 2009”
Language, English
ISBN, 978-89-90965-91-2
Length, 168 Pages

Table of Content

  1. If You Want to Play Baduk Well
  2. Capturing Races and Approaches
  3. Opening Sample 1
  4. Life & Death and Next Move
  5. Capturing Race & Enclosures
  6. Opening Sample 2
  7. Life & Death and False Eyes
  8. Capturing Race, Connection and Cut
  9. The Invention of Baduk
  10. Life & Death and Next Move
  11. Capturing Race and Haengma
  12. Life & Death and False Eyes
  13. Opening Sample 3
  14. Capturing Race
  15. Life & Death and Next Move
  16. Capturing Race and Extension
  17. Opening Sample 4
  18. Life & Death and How to Answer
  19. Capturing Race and Connection
  20. Opening Sample 5
  21. Life & Death, False Eyes and Next Move
  22. Capturing Race & Haengma
  23. Blood Vomiting Game
  24. Opening Sample 6
  25. Life & Death, How to Answer and Next Move
  26. Endgame
  27. Opening Sample 7
  28. Life & Death, False Eyes and Next Move
  29. Capturing Race and Extension
  30. Opening Sample 8
  31. Life & Death and How to Answer
  32. Level Tests

Synopsis

  1. Really solid review of the content that was taught in the first five volumes of the Level Up Series.
  2. In place of explanations, there are a lot more problems and opening samples.
  3. If you want a review of the basics; but feel buying five introductory books is a little excessive, this is a nice all in one.

Before I Read This Book…

My Abilities

  • A mid to high SDK (single digit kyu) kyu who has read his fair share of go books and has a pretty strong foundation in the basics and teaching go.

My Perspective

  • Since I was able to complete the first five volumes without much difficulty, I was expecting this to be pretty easy.

My Review

What did I enjoy about the book?

  • Some review books are jokes in terms of comprehensive review, this is not one of them.
  • They spare no effort drilling concepts and making sure you remember what you learned over the last 5 books.
  • Even it is easy overall, a stronger player should not be overconfident in determining the answers. I almost made a few mistakes as a result of it.

What did I gain from reading this book?

  • Polished my fundamental life and death skills.
  • Improved my ability to read out capturing races.
  • Gained a better instinct when analyzing the board and what to play next.

What style of teaching does the book use?

  • Drill Sergeant

    • Practice… practice… practice…

  • Primary Learning Mechanism:

    • Practice problems

  • Other Learning Mechanisms:

    • Samples of openings from professional games to further acclimate the reader to full games on a 19x19 board.

What aspect(s) can be improved on?

  • No complaints here. The book was extremely thorough and very accurate. Did not find any discrepancies in the answer book this time around.

Is this book easy to read?

  • Yes. Unless you can’t read English, it doesn’t get much simpler.
  • Though the series is designed for kids, both kids and adults alike will be able to learn everything they need to know about playing go in a fun and entertaining way.
  • People who enjoy learning things in an easy to understand format and lots of opportunities to reinforce what they are learning.

Where Can I Buy It?

  • Yellow Mountain Imports - $13.00 USD (shipping and handling not included)
  • Baduktopia - E-mail them at info@baduktopia.com for more information.

Other Books in This Series…

Last Updated on July 19th, 2013