This is one of the few books about chess that is more fun than playing chess. It's full of amusing stories and anecdotes about chess and chess players, with many other features--problems, games, and so on. There's a newer edition that I must acquire someday, but this is the one I remember as magic. It was written by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld, my #1 and #2 favorite chess writers. ( )

You know those comic annuals you used to get when you were a child, full of stories and articles and amazing information? Well this is like that for chessplayers. It doesn't really do anything or teach you anything but it's very nice to pick up sometimes and learn for example that there were three players called Znosko-Borovsky in the 1913 St. Petersburg tournament. Or that nobody knows if Ruy Lopez was really a bishop - but he mitre been. ( )

The book brings out the drama (and humor) in chess. ( )

I can't begin to describe how many times I read through this book from cover to cover as a young teen. The stories, the games, the lore - this book represents one of the major building blocks in my formative years as a chess player. It won't help your over-the-board play, but it will fire your imagination about "chess culture". ( )