The Immortal Game
Why has one game, alone among the thousands of games invented and played throughout human history, not only survived but thrived within every culture it has touched? What is it about its thirty-two figurative pieces, moving about its sixty-four black and white squares according to very simple rules, that has captivated people for nearly 1,500 years? Why has it driven some of its greatest players into paranoia and madness, and yet is hailed as a remarkably powerful intellectual tool?Nearly everyone has played chess at some point in their lives. Its rules and pieces have served as a metaphor for society, influencing military strategy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and literature and the arts. It has been condemned as the devil's game by popes, rabbis, and imams, and lauded as a guide to proper living by other popes, rabbis, and imams. Marcel Duchamp was so absorbed in the game that he ignored his wife on their honeymoon. Caliph Muhammad al-Amin lost his throne (and his head) trying to checkmate a courtier. Ben Franklin used the game as a cover for secret diplomacy.In his wide-ranging and ever-fascinating examination of chess, David Shenk gleefully unearths the hidden history of a game that seems so simple yet contains infinity.
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3recommend
4mentions
3people
2010–2017years
75% recommend25% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- For eeveryone interested in a history (and general overview) of the game I suggest Immortal Game by David Shenk (https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Game-History-Chess/dp/140003...).
Specifically he does mention how Chess was considered in ideological terms (for example by the Church, and later by Soviet Communism) and how the public perception of the game changed with time.
- With regards to chess, some thoughts:
* /r/chess is a great community.
* Chess.com is also good, particularly for their analysis tools and tactics puzzles in the app.
* Lichess is my favorite for actually playing games with other people.
* Queen's Gambit is clearly the most fun opening as white.
* Chess can be one of the most infuriating games in existence.
* "The Immortal Game: A History of Chess" is one of the best non-fiction books I've read in awhile.
- Interesting trivia from the good micro-history book "The Immortal Game" is that the classic stylized chess piece shapes that are still used today were adapted from more representative figures specifically to be less offensive to Muslim leaders who didn't approve of the realistic depictions.
- Here are two examples of what I mean with "overview books":
http://www.amazon.com/The-Immortal-Game-History-Chess/dp/1400034086 http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Gladiators-Musketeers-Swashbucklers-anniversary/dp/0812969669
The first covers the history of chess, with ample digressions on chess and literature, chess and cognitive abilities, chess and madness... The second is history of the sword, from crude implement of destruction to ritualized olympic discipline. Along with ample digressions on sword in other cultures, theatrical fencing and so on.
What I am looking for is a list of books covering a general overview of some specific topic, written so that they are engaging and fun to read even for people with little or no specific knowledge (the chess book is particularly good in this) and provide a lot of information about their main subject.
Any suggestions?
