Book cover of Searching for Bobby Fischer: A Father's Story of Love and Ambition

Book description

The father of a real american chess prodigy reflects on chess, competition, childhood, and his son's meteoric rise to the highest levels of global competition.

"[A] little gem of a book." -The New York Times

Fred Waitzkin was smitten with chess during the historic Fischer-Spassky championship in 1972. When Fisher…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Searching for Bobby Fischer as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Waitzkin was a freelance journalist when he discovered his young son was a brilliant prodigy at the chessboard. This book offered the most useful and colorful portrait of the bizarre ecosystem of chess that I’ve ever come across in print. The story also documents a dangerous father-son relationship as Josh navigates his way to realizing the potential that has unexpectedly corrosive effects for both of them.   

From Brin-Jonathan's list on the world of chess.

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Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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