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Danny Kleinman 1980 438pp
Available as a Two-volume, self-published, spiral bound edition, and
individual ( revised) editions - Volume 1 - 'Vision Laughs at Counting'; and
Volume 2 'Advice to the Dice Lorn'.
Note: the latest editions have been
revised with modern board diagrams, which corrects a major deficiency in the
originals
The two volume 'Vision' set is my favourite backgammon book (I
bought it twice, just for the benefit of the revised board positions). Kleinman
is arguably the most knowledgable deep theoretician of the game, and his dynamic
prose never fails to keep the reader entertained. At $80 for the set, Kleinman's
wisdom doesn't come cheap, but money players will soon find that their
investment is recovered many times over, from careful perusal of the text.
Kleinman's forte is chouette play and much of the first volume focuses
on chouette strategy and tactics; including the mechanics of play and the deeper
psychology of the game and money management. The author takes a theme, for
example 'killing and maiming numbers' - describes and explains the theory and
illustrates the concept by reference to problem positions. The lesson is
reinforced in humoress vignettes which take the form of letters to Miss Lonely
Blots (Kleinman's alter-ego) from a motley crew of fictious backgammon
stereotypes 'Frankie Fiveroller, Seymore Sykologist etc'.
As hinted by
the title, Kleinman's magnum opus is dedicated to the elaboration of the two
major elements of the game - vision and counting. Kleinman teaches the reader to
focus on the dynamism of the game and to assess the key priorities as the game
unfurls. "At the highest levels, backgammon geniuses see what the rest of us can
only struggle to figure out."
Often the advice is relatively simple - how
to perceive the dice rolls (individually and in combination), "Don't reach for a
checker until you decide where to move it. And don't play any of your numbers
until you decide how you intend playing the rest". Further pearls of vision
wisdom - "You must see the whole board..you cannot sit scrunched up... with your
eyes focussed on just one sector. Sit back comfortably where you can see it
all...Never let your opponent lean his elbow over a blot...Dont leave your arm
stretched out to grasp a checker or a a die, for that will obscure part of the
board." Simple stuff, but vital information for the beginner (or intermediate)
that seldom warrants mention in most backgammon texts.
Kleinman is a
great teacher. He has the rare ability to frame complex technical issues in
illuminating analogies which stick in the readers mind. For example, 'The
Chemistry of Anchors' assess the function and value of various anchor points -
from the 'golden' five-point to the 'iron' ace-point. 'The Anatomy of Primes'
elaborates the important function of blockades by reference to dynamic prime
fields, prime acreage and prime wilderness. Like many great teachers Kleinman
critiques the classics - the standard reference works of other experts - and
sets out a concise summary of Magriel's 'Backgammon' in just five illuminating
pages.
Kleinman is perhaps noted most for his mathematical genius, and
the author certainly has a gift for putting a number to every conceivable
concept of the game. Readers fluent in mathematics will delight in Kleinmans
essays on; 'Backgammon as a Problem in Mathematics'; 'The Prime Leaping
Problem'; and 'The Cube Equations', while the mathematically illiterate will
benefit from countless numerical mnemonics, handy tips and hints.
The
second volume contains extensive content on cube theory with reference to money
games, chouette and tournament matches, amply illustrated with match equity
tables, gammon price tables, and of course, lots of mathematical formulae.
Kleinman signs off on a light note with a section on backgammon philosophy and
humorous series of quizes which includes a test of the readers temperment and
attitude for hustling.
Heres an overview of the overall
content
Volume 1
Welcome to the Chouette (30 pages)
Vision (67
pages)
Counting (26 pages)
Racing (49 pages)
Gammons (24
pages)
Volume 2
Cube (48 pages)
Tournament (44
pages)
Mathematicians Delight (23 pages)
Rules and Variations (13
pages)
Laughs (14 pages)
Quizzicale (56 pages)
In summary, if I
could only keep one backgammon book then this would be the one. Whats that I
can't count both volumes as one? Hmmm tough choice then.
Mark Driver, 12/09/01
Seminal work on match play, money play, doubling cube, races, and more.
Kleinman is very prolific. His analyses are often more mathematical than the
average reader can handle, but Real Mathematicians [tm] and even the layperson
with math aptitude shouldn't be fazed. A Real Mathematician wouldn't call
Kleinman's math "deep", but it sure is accurate, and you won't find anything
similar anywhere else. He does the important work of formulating the right
problems the right way, where many others couldn't.
Drawbacks: his books are self-published with lousy layout and graphics. He's
supposedly not that great a player (I've never seen him play), so his analyses
often lack the world-class insight into the thought processes of the strong
practical player that you could get from a Goulding or a Robertie. In
particular, his middle-game intuition seems less than world-class. But these
drawbacks are more than made up for by the wealth of information in his books,
which I still haven't completely soaked up after many years. Kleinman is a
subtle thinker and a meticulous analyst of the countable, and he does a lot to
develop backgammon "vision." His stuff is often uproariously funny, but
sometimes one gets impatient trying to filter out what's relevant to the
practical player from the humor.
All his books are "must have's" for the serious player. They're a bit
expensive since I think he bears all the production costs himself, but for the
serious player they're worth every cent.
Marty Storer, May 1992
Vision Laughs at Countingcontains much sound advice on the
practical aspects of bg play (e.g., sections on bg hustlers, bg cheaters,
chouette money management), seminal advice on handling the doubler, and even a
few unprecedented mathematical characterizations of certain aspects of certain
positions (e.g., how many pips to penalize a player for having one or more
checkers on the bar). The book is generally insightful and often very amusingly
written, but not suitable as an introductory text, sometimes obsolete, and
sometimes simply wrong; and though it is the only text by Kleinman that I have
read, I have good reason to believe that that judgment applies to Kleinman's
other texts, as well.
John Bazigos, June 1993
For me, Vision Laughs At Counting is a "must-have" because it
contains analyses that are really useful for aspiring backgammon programmers. It
is hard to express backgammon fundamentals in exact formulae, and Kleinman has
done this for some crucial positional concepts. To a backgammon programmer, the
time saved by not having to analyze this stuff for oneself is worth many times
the cost of the book.
On the down side, that material occupies less than 50 pages out of 450. The
rest of the material is very amusing, but reading it probably cost me about as
much time as the analyses saved me. (OK, I admit I enjoyed every minute. But I
really should have been programming.)
In terms of the backgammon content, I think the book overemphasizes exact
calculations of roll sequences. In fact, sometimes the differences between plays
are expressed in terms of 1/46656! This is hardly the sort of difference that
separates aspiring experts from experts. The book is at its best when it
summarizes the conclusions of such calculations in terms of general principles,
and at its worst when it lets the calculations stand on their own.
OK then: programmers should buy a copy immediately. Players who expect a book
to greatly expand their horizons might be disappointed. But if you expect a book
to amuse you, and hope to learn a thing or two, then you will be happy with
Vision Laughs At Counting.
Brian Sheppard, July 1997
Other book reviews welcome! Email them to DocMartin@Gammoned.com
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