2014-09-21

The Secret Life

I have had many enjoyable hours working with Silas Lund's second book about minor pieces: The Secret Life of Bad Bishops. This is not a unbiased review, since he is a good friend, but anyhow I want to write a few words.

Silas likes bishop. He really does, and he shows many examples where seemingly bad bishops make a great job defending good pawns, and finally comes alive to decide matters.
   As usual, Silas has taken a lot of time to write the book. Many years. But I also like that he has kept the book rather short (less than 200 pages), and focused only at the theme of the book. I know how difficult it is to resist the temptation to write about other things.
   One thing my own book and Silas' has in common is a rather vulgar title. A friend saw the front cover and the title and thought that the book was about religious bishops doing bad things with children. But the more I read, the more I liked the title.
   The most secret knowledge may be the section about isolating one of the opponent's bishops. This can be done in severel ways, exchange sacrifices being one of the most common. Silas explains it in a very clear way, and I think that what he writes can be a real eye-opener for many.
   In a more pleasant way than learning what the religious priests really do.