Rewire Your Chess Brain

In this book the author assembles the problems and studies that are most effective to improve tactical ability. A player who works their way through this book will undoubtedly see improvements in their own play.

Rewire Your Chess Brain is not your average chess book. It does not deal with opening theory or middlegame strategy. It focuses purely on problems and studies, all of which are the results of artificial construction rather than scenes from real-life battles. In a chess study, White has to play and win (or draw). In a chess puzzle, White has to force mate in a stipulated number of moves. The starting positions in both forms rarely resemble anything found over the board in real life play. However, the solutions are invariably surprising and often quite beautiful. The best examples of both forms have often been compared to great works of art. However, these are not mere gallery pieces, lacking practical application in real life play. Solving these puzzles can be extremely challenging and will, without question, improve the “real world” tactical ability of anyone attempting to do so. Prolific chess author and coach Cyrus Lakdawala has been intrigued by studies and problems all his life. When training his students he often sets them studies and problems to solve. Many of them who have adopted this technique have seen extraordinary increases in their chess ratings. In this book Lakdawala assembles the problems and studies that are most effective to improve tactical ability. Work your way through this book and you will undoubtedly see the results in your own games.

National Book Award Finalist: “This man’s ideas may be the most influential, not to say controversial, of the second half of the twentieth century.”—Columbus Dispatch At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only three thousand years ago and is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, our religion—and indeed our future. “Don’t be put off by the academic title of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Its prose is always lucid and often lyrical…he unfolds his case with the utmost intellectual rigor.”—The New York Times “When Julian Jaynes . . . speculates that until late in the twentieth millennium BC men had no consciousness but were automatically obeying the voices of the gods, we are astounded but compelled to follow this remarkable thesis.”—John Updike, The New Yorker “He is as startling as Freud was in The Interpretation of Dreams, and Jaynes is equally as adept at forcing a new view of known human behavior.”—American Journal of Psychiatry

“Well-written and fascinating . . . this is the kind of book you want everyone to read.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer “Curiosity, awareness, attention,” Laurence Gonzales writes. “Those are the tools of our everyday survival. . . . We all must be scientists at heart or be victims of forces that we don’t understand.” In this fascinating account, Gonzales turns his talent for gripping narrative, knowledge of the way our minds and bodies work, and bottomless curiosity about the world to the topic of how we can best use the blessings of evolution to overcome the hazards of everyday life. Everyday Survival will teach you to make the right choices for our complex, dangerous, and quickly changing world—whether you are climbing a mountain or the corporate ladder.

In a world awash in educational chess content, knowing how to study the game most effectively can be challenging. As the Perpetual Chess Podcast host, USCF Master Ben Johnson has spent hundreds of hours talking chess with many of the world's top players and most accomplished trainers. In the popular Adult Improver Series, he has spoken with dozens of passionate amateurs who have elevated their games significantly while pursuing chess as a hobby. Guests like former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and YouTube Stars IM Levy Rozman and GM Hikaru Nakamura have shared insights and told memorable stories. And Ben has learned just as much from the many dedicated amateurs who applied their considerable professional (non-chess) experience to their chess learning. In Perpetual Chess Improvement, Ben looks for common ground and shared principles in all chess advice given on the podcast. Chess players do not always agree on the best improvement methods, so he even adjudicates a few disagreements! The book will show you the following: •How to approach and study different aspects of the game, including openings, endgames, tactics, tournament games, and speed chess. •How to find a chess coach and a like-minded chess community. •How to properly utilize all the powerful chess study tools available. •Instructive chess positions illustrate the topics discussed. The guests shared a wealth of beautiful stories, and chess study advice on the Perpetual Chess Podcast. This book compiles the highlights and will help you make a holistic plan for your chess studies.

This book on tactical play is designed to aid practical play by focusing on typical combinational themes that crop up consistently in chess.

A surprisingly simple way for students to master any subject--based on one of the world's most popular online courses and the bestselling book A Mind for Numbers A Mind for Numbers and its wildly popular online companion course "Learning How to Learn" have empowered more than two million learners of all ages from around the world to master subjects that they once struggled with. Fans often wish they'd discovered these learning strategies earlier and ask how they can help their kids master these skills as well. Now in this new book for kids and teens, the authors reveal how to make the most of time spent studying. We all have the tools to learn what might not seem to come naturally to us at first--the secret is to understand how the brain works so we can unlock its power. This book explains: • Why sometimes letting your mind wander is an important part of the learning process • How to avoid "rut think" in order to think outside the box • Why having a poor memory can be a good thing • The value of metaphors in developing understanding • A simple, yet powerful, way to stop procrastinating Filled with illustrations, application questions, and exercises, this book makes learning easy and fun.