Wilcox Review

Okay.

I've been reading and rereading Bruce Wilcox's Sector Fights and Contact Fights. And I have some thoughts. First off, the presentation isn't necessarily "juvenile" - it comes from a different school/methodology of thought. Wilcox uses words like "sucks" and "toasted" and the like, because that is how he is. He is also a computer programmer, and the book reads like a reference manual at times. Which is very useful to me.

I'm learning a lot, because instead of arcane proverbs, like "the touch of a single stone is as a darting swallow," or whatever, he puts it in english terms and principles.

I can see why this can be disconcerting. It demystifies the game, and by using non-standard terminology, it removes much of the aura and flavor and the mysterious oriental inscrutability of it all.

I feel stronger. My play isn't necessarily better, but at least I am not simply trying for the same old thing all over, my play inproving incremently, but without any fundamental sense of what I am trying to do. That at least has changed. And I'm enjoying playing again.