Hello.

I know the rules of Backgammon, and I have played approximately 60 games (without using the doubling cube).

I want to become strong at backgammon, and therefore I plan to buy some books. But I don't know what books to buy, so I would like some recommendation.

I don't want just one book. I would prefer two, three or four, depending on their size. The bigger the books the better.

Just one more thing: I would prefer books that are not too old (not older than 1985), so that they could have benefited from the advent of computers.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Check out this thread:

Beginner - what to study?
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/13...study-1506314/

I also recommend you read some of the book reviews at Backgammon Galore! There are so many, however, that this may useful only after you have a title in mind.

Mike

WIth just 60 games under your belt, you need to focus on beginner's books, combined with a lot of practice.

Chris Bray and Paul Lamford have written some excellent beginner's books. Check these out:

Bray: 'BG for Blood' and 'BG for Dummies'.
Lamford: 'Starting Out in BG' and 'Improve Your BG'.

The best beginner's book ever was Cooke's 'BG: The Cruelest Game', written in 1975, which really conveys some of the glamour and romance of the game. You don't need to avoid beginner's books before the bot era; a good beginner's book will teach you a lot of basic stuff which has not been contradicted by current theory.

in addition to books, there are some videos on youtube that are great for beginners with almost no experience. They were not around when i started playing, however i did watch some of them to see if they were good or not, there is one series that has like 100K views thats worthwhile IMO for anyone starting out.

Books, what was said above i agree with, i'm not sure about BG for blood(thats kinda questionable) otherwise all good stuff,

Backgammon for Blood by Chris Bray is a fine book for beginners. The one you should stay away from is the best-selling book from the the 1970s that has the same title. That one is by Bruce Becker. It may be the worst backgammon book of all time.

Over Chris' objection, his American publishers used the same title as the Becker book. I believe they owned rights to it.

The version of Backgammon for Blood published in 2007 is a reprint of Backgammon to Win by Chris Bray.

Mike

thanks for the clarification

Chris Bray is a good writer.

Personally if I could only get one book it would have to be BAckgammon Bootcamp by Walter Trice. At times mathmatical, it is a good comprehensive book.
Second on my list would be "501 Essential Backgammon Problems" by Bill Robertie.
Also check out the really good USBGF facebook videos https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...3680398&type=2 They are free.
I would initially avoid Paul Magriel's "BAckgammon", it is very clear but if you look at the sections beyond the basics and the opening rolls then 28% of the solutions are wrong. Incredibly clear but wiat until you are prepared to roll it out. Then you can learn a lot about why he went wrong, but not at the start of your learning.
Look at the problems of the week that Bill did here. You can learn a lot from them - I sure did.