Seven Games: A Human History

A book about the history and cultural phenomenons of chess, checkers, backgammon, bridge, poker, scrabble, and go? I had just a general idea of what to expect going into “Seven Games” but Oliver Roeder makes such a riveting case on not just the historical and cultural origins of each game, but more so how and why humans play games and the argument of what may or may not constitute as a game. There's a surprising amount of in depth analysis about how AI and computers attempt or succeed in “solving” these games and what grandmasters feel about this. I can't say initially I considered the AI / computer vs human debate but it's super interesting to read about. I highly recommend this book, even if you're not super familiar with the majority of these games like I am. This book is not just enjoyably insightful but impressively and artfully decodes the truer meaning of games and life itself. A much deeper and enriching experience than I expected.

Amiable - a little history, a little anecdotal, a little essay. Should have been subtitled “How computers can now beat every human at every game”.