[.ca] Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated ... (ISBN 0691118183)

Story of Man vs Machine:
Loved this book which details an engineer's dream to create the best chess computer in the world. Appreciated the technical explanation as well as the stories of bugs encountered during the development. Could have been 5 stars if not for the writing style which I found to be quite bland.

Slightly Disappointing:
I was slightly disappointed with this book, but since much of the material is only available from the author, it was worth reading. Having played tournament chess, having written chess software (non-commercial), and especially having been one of a thousand or so at the final games where Kasparov lost, I had high expectations for this book. Perhaps too high. That might explain why I was disappointed. As the author points out, it is not a book on chess analysis and that seems obvious. However, even the analysis from a software standpoint is weak -- it merely seems to be a hardware let's-build-it-one-thousand-times faster. Come to think of it, the author DID state that he was writing the book that way, so I shouldn't be too surprised. I was delighted that the author liked "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" (a fantastic book) and that further heightened my expectations. Unfortunately, the book lacked the creativity and humor of anything like that. It was not a "bad" book, just not quite what I expected. That does not discredit the great work done or what might come in the future as a result of it. For that, the accolades are already present.

Intriguing story told with lots of heart:
For a book on the arcane and technical worlds of computer science and chess, this story is highly readable and entertaining, and often quite funny and deeply poignant. The development of a history-making machine was, in the end, a very human adventure.

Fantastic Read - You're a Fool Not to Buy it Now:
Feng-Hsiung's group was a pleasure to work on the periphery of. They were not afraid to challenge established "standards". The book is highly readable on what could have otherwise been very dry. This is not an easy thing to write about. Feng-Hsiung's style bubbles with his natural excitement over the project. His command of the facts and memory of events is remarkable. I knew DT/DB would be special when, as operator, I saw DT announce a very long mate against FIDE Master David Glicksman. After a lengthy analysis, Glicksman laughed after he saw the mate in a deep analysis after being told it was there. Hey, Davie, he likey! Stuart Cracraft

Best computer chess book since that second match:
I am also a hardware engineer. Since 1984 studied chess programs like: Sargon, GNU, and Phalanx; didn't know how to make hardware for chess playing machine. Then Hsu's book gave very good lead, simplified it to 3 keys functions: move generator, position evaluation, and program comtrol, that's all. Some reviewer wanted more details like how the evaluation works; some said it was too technical. I think the book is excellent, maybe a little more in the author's specialty: chip design. Anyway the book is for general readers, like a PG-13 movie; he keeps the technical parts enough both spectrum of audience (even though I like too read more about the technical part, I want the author to win more audience.) After that match in 1997, I could not find more good computer chess books besides Newborn's Kasparov versus Deep Blue. I guessed the researchers began to lose interests in it because Mission Accomplished. By the way, if you want to know more about how chess program works (for example: position evaluation); please study "FREE" GNUChess. I learn very much from it. It's worth the effort.