Books for/about - Japanese Puzzles

Sudoku: More than 200 Fun and Challenging Japanese Number Puzzles

Publisher: Gramercy
Authors: Tammy Seto

ISBN: 0517228270
List Price: $5.99
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 1
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Summary: Pretty but not useful
This book of puzzles is the most frustrating one of many I have bought. The numbers are put into pretty design arrangements that have nothing to do with the difficulty of the pattern. Some labeled beginner are quite difficult, while at least one labeled intermediate had only one step logic involved. I like to know the difficulty level before I begin so I can choose one appropriate for the time available and challenge that I am in the mood for. You have no idea with this book. There are many good books available, no reason to buy this one.

Summary: Another Addictive Sudoku Book
I have been doing Sudoku puzzles for several months now and, like I've said in other Sudoku book reviews, I have become addicted to them! I have at least one of these puzzle books in every room of my home, and tend to do at least a few each night!

For those of you who have never heard of Sudoku before, here's an idea of what this logic puzzle is all about... You're given a 9x9 grid, with 3 3x3 grids within it. The goal is to figure out which numbers (from 1 through 9) go into which spaces within the grid. The trick is that each number can only be used once within each 3x3 grid, as well as within each row and column of the full 9x9 grid. You do this by using the few numbers that are already filled in, deducing along the way to find the correct number for each square (it sounds harder than it is).

This particular Sudoku book has a great set of instructions in the front, as well as 3 different levels of puzzles within - each increasing in difficulty - so it's perfect for both the novice and pro alike.

If you like doing logic puzzles, and playing around with numbers, than I highly recommend that you give this book a try - who knows, you might become addicted to these puzzles as well...

Summary: CRAZE that is sweeping the nation
Got this as a present for my mother and she took it on a plane ride, so it's uhhh very portable. She said the puzzles were good and the answers are in the back if she got stuck, though that's cheating and I mean why bother? So There you have it, nothing fancy but definantly portable.

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Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life

Publisher: BRADY GAMES
Authors: Chris Kohler

ISBN: 0744004241
List Price: $19.99
Amazon Price: $12.99
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Summary: narrow scope, but an interesting read.
other people have commented thoroughly about the generalities of this book, and i by-and-large agree. i'd like to add, however, that some of the most interesting parts of this book are the omissions.

for example, they author segues straight from talking about Ninja Gaiden to NOJ/NOA's localization process and standards for content. he mentions that religious iconography, drug use, etc, are all prohibited from being portrayed in Nintendo software, and the list of prohibited content includes cigarette smoking.

the author fails to note the irony, however, that in the aforementioned game there's a bad guy leaning against a light post smoking a cigarette he throws aside before dashing at you. i can only assume it slipped past the censors without them catching it, but my friends and i had noticed it years ago and marvelled that it had been made it through the review process intact.

it's these kinds of things that make me feel like this book is a good general source, but anything deeper than a surface look at the topics covered would require some additional reading/sources.

there are quite a few nuggets of interesting trivia in here - more than enough to make a gamer smile (dragon quest being legally prohibited in Japan from selling on any day except Sunday or a holiday, for example). my copy was a gift; i can attest that it makes a fine one.

Summary: Too short and too shallow, but basically worthwhile
I enjoyed this book, mostly. Within its scattershot set of chapters about Japanese games in general, there's a fascinating, albeit sketchy, history of Nintendo that contained many small revelations for me, despite that I've been playing video games incessantly since 1987 or so. But the rest of the material was less compelling for me. The chapter about music games and music in games actively frustrated me--it gave only a brief survey of either topic, and seemed to spend most of its words on a tedious, obsessive examination of Final Fantasy albums. A chapter about Akihabara, Japan's premier consumer electronics marketplace, pushed the trivia-to-insight ratio similarly high. In his effort to treat video games as if they deserve the attention of artists, Kohler concentrates too much on material that is only interesting to fans.

Still, on the whole I'm glad I read this book, and I hope Kohler's stated desire to encourage further such works is satisfied; there is clearly much more to say.

Summary: Excellent book--some flaws
This is an excellent book. However, it's a bit too short and has some issues.

Firstly, as mentioned in other reviews, this book is really dry. It's written in an academic fashion--and is loaded with unncessary scene-by-scene analysis of classic Japanese games that I largely skipped over. The author seems to desperately want to be taken seriously in an acadcemic sense---which leads to some dry reading.

Also, the author is an EXTREME Nintendo and Square fanboy. In a short book like this, it's impossible to cover the rich history of Japanese games--but there's hardly a mention of other Japanese giants such as Sega, Hudson, Capcom, Konami, etc. And apparently Nintendo can do no wrong as the author gushes over every single Nintendo product. To the point where he's giving valuable pages to Silicon Knights--a rather unremarkable western game developer--simply because of their tight relationship with Nintendo. Silicon Knights is a mere footnote in Nintendo's history--while there's not a single mention of Rare anywhere.

Anyway--the Akihabara shopping guide is great. I'm going to use that when I go to Japan, no doubt. Also he makes a lot of observations about the Japanese game industry that I haven't seen anywhere else. He's also managed to get some decent access to various Japanese developers for interviews--which makes for much better reading than other books which simply cull from old magazine interviews.

In the end, it's an interesting but very tiny slice of Japanese game history. It's also a raging love letter to Nintendo and Square--which makes the author unable to grasp the depths to which Nintendo has fallen. (Squares downfall is nicely detailed though)

I'd like to see him write a few more volumes on the subject, this time focusing on the greater history of Japanese games. But as it is, I highly recommend this book. It's one of the few video game history books that offers new insights.

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	The Simple Art of Sumi-E: Mastering Japanese Ink Painting Publisher: Sterling Authors: Takumasa Ono
ISBN: 1402720092 List Price: $19.95 Amazon Price: $13.96 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: Reviews: Summary:

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Monster Book of Japanese Puzzles

Publisher: Overlook TP
Authors: Michael Mepham

ISBN: 1585678325
List Price: $15.95
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 5
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Summary: This book gives you an idea of the flood of "Sudoku" Books that are literally inundating the bookstores and newspapers.
A few weeks ago about the only variant to Sudoku was another number puzzle called Karuro. Oh yeah; there were also some larger ones of 16 X16 cells,some circular,etc.Now, it looks like a feeding frenzy around the Games and Puzzle section of the bookstore.Not to mention the plethora of hand held electronic sudoku games on e-bay. The only thing competing for attention is the raft of books started by the monster hit Da Vinci Code.
This author has put out several other Sudoku books and is one of the most popular amongst what is becoming many. For a quick look of 5 different types of "Grid Puzzles";you can't go wrong with this book.
It is anybody's guess how many other types we'll see in the near future.But I can tell you this ;I have been a 'puzzle nut'
for 60 years and have a collection of over 500 puzzle books;and there are literally hundreds more of variations on grid puzzles.
And then there's the whole world of Magic Squares;simply put,you
ain't seen nothing yet.
There is also another book that has recently appeared,"The Sudoku Code" by Francis Heaney that combines Da Vinci with Sudoku for those who like mysteries and puzzles combined.

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	The Mammoth Book of Kakuro, Wordoku, and Super Sudoku: Best New Japanese Puzzles Publisher: Carroll & Graf Authors: Nathan Haselbauer
ISBN: 078671784X List Price: $12.95 Amazon Price: $9.97 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: Reviews: Summary:

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	Japanese Abacus : Its Use and Theory Publisher: Tuttle Publishing Authors: Takashi Kojima
ISBN: 0804802785 List Price: $8.95 Amazon Price: $8.95 Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 4 Reviews: Summary: Short and Sweet Kojima's book is short, but teaches nearly everything you need to add, subtract, multiply, and divide on the Japanese soroban. Missing is how to handle negative numbers when adding and subtracting. (Perhaps this is covered in Kojima's advanced book.) The other review is correct to say that what Kojima teaches can be applied to the Chinese suan pan. The exercises are a valuable part of the book. Mental calculation is presented, but the use of "abacus thinking" for paper calculations is absent. It would be nice to see this book in print again. Summary: The bible If you want a book on how to use a Japanese abacus this is the bible for it. I see other books written that have not been properly researched and really teach usage technique wrong. If you really want to learn how to use a Soroban or even a Chinese Suan Pan this is the book to get. The challanges listed between the Soroban and calculator were before the days of modern pocket calculators but with practice you can still get real fast. Practice the exercises in this book and you can rely on a Soroban just like a pocket calculator. If you have a 2/5 Chinese Suan Pan don't worry this still applies. Actually the 2/5 was developed for the Chinese weight system that was based on 16. It's actually a hexidecimal calculator! If you do computer hex math a 2/5 might actually be very helpful! The 1/4 and 2/5 refer to the number of beads on the top and bottom. Top beads count as 5 and bottom as 1. Summary: Japanese Abacus: Its Use and Theory. This is one of the few books about how to use an abacus around. Even though there aren't that many books out there, Kojima does a very good job of explaining how to use the abacus, in a step by step manner. The book starts off with a brief history of the abacus then proceeds to how to use it for addition, subtraction, multiplication and then division. The book also goes into cube roots! The book also has some simple tests after each chapter and at the end of the book to see how much you have improved. All in all the book is very well written and if you have any interest in the abacus, this is a good book to have. Summary:

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	The Essential Book of Japanese Puzzles and How to Solve Them Publisher: Atria Authors: Pete Sinden
ISBN: 0743297423 List Price: $9.95 Amazon Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: Reviews: Summary:

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Penguin Sudoku 2006 : A Year's Supply of Sudokus and Some Nonograms and Cross Sums, the Fiendish New Japanese Puzzles

Publisher:
Authors: David Bodycombe

ISBN: B000FKP9VA
List Price: $10.00
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Summary: Now here's something to keep you outta everyone's hair !
Penguin has published a doozer here.It gives you a puzzle to do for every day of the year.They come in 5 levels of difficulty,so that should give something for everybody.These puzzles were made by David Bodycombe who happens to be the fellow who has been creating various types of puzzles for years.
Just for a little change of pace, there are also included 10 pages of Nonograms,where grids are blocked in to make pictures.If you're not mad at this point ,there are 10 pages of Cross Sums that may just complete the job.
There is only the briefest of instructions or tips,so maybe this should not be the first Sudoku book one starts off with.Check out some of my other reviews,partically the other one I wrote today.
Good Sudokuing !!

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