With the holiday weekend I was finally able to finish some of the books I had started. The chess book that was finished this weekend was Garry Kasparov's How Life Imitates Chess. I am curious to hear how others view this book, as I enjoyed it. The book impressed with its eloquence (probably Mig speaking), and surprisingly the great amount of humility that Kasparov relates his stories with.
Since the last chess related book that I head read was Josh Waitzkin's Art of Learning, it was easy to see that both do a lot with the theme of personal growth coming from the way crisis situations are handled.
I was debating about picking up Paul Hoffman's book, or just going with some light entertainment style reading like Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan. Anyone have book suggestions?
Glenn
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Kasparov humble? Maybe I should give the book a try after all. Everything I'd seen about it led me to conclude that it's part of that genre of professional-motivation books that try to draw lessons about business from other, more exciting pursuits. I don't generally like such books, so I've avoided the book for that reason. That and the fact that The New Yorker called it "hokum." But I respect your judgment, Glenn, so I may give it a try.
I would recommend Hoffman's book highly.
Tom
Tom,
That is what surprised me, his crediting of Karpov. He also relates a story of being at the home of Frederic Freidel and having his butt kicked playing video games with Freidels toddler son. Kasparov also goes back into his more typical pompous nature at times too, but it shows that he can be humble.
I was surprised about the Karpov part because he at one time had gone on record saying that Karpov was not the real world champion because he had not beaten the champion in a match. When I met Karpov several years ago, and that topic came up, Karpov just chuckled and said that Kasparov must not be champion either because by that logic he hadn't defeated a world champion either.
Glenn
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