Backgammon, The Cruelest Game - Cook & Bradshaw
With the understanding that it takes some meanness to win the backgammon game, Barclay Cook (then the co-holder of the World Duplicate Backgammon Cup) and Jon Bradshaw (a well known journalist who took a special interest in gambling) are introducing the most popular game of the era to players of wide range of skill levels and experience.
The book begins, as usual, with introduction to backgammon rules, continues with recommended opening moves, and some basic tactics. Backgammon, The Cruelest Game features intensive chapters on backgammon odds and probabilities, the backgame strategy, and another one to the chouette, a form of backgammon played with three or more players, one player against a team. Its unique feature is the valuable chapter dedicated to the psychology of the game as it is find expression in backgammon tournaments.
Backgammon, The Cruelest Game was written in 1974, before internet backgammon and before neural nets such as Snowie and GNU Backgammon were at arm's reach, making backgammon learning and probabilities calculation much easier. Did the book stand the test of time? The opinions are conflicted. Some claim that the book remained as relevant as it used to be, capturing the essence of backgammon basics; while others see it is as a classic reminder of an unreturned period in backgammon history. Either way, the book offers a readable, comprehensive look at the backgammon fundamentals.
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