Susan Polgar's book arrived today, so I read it. She explains briefly how the Polgar family life produced three of the world's strongest players, and also describes her meetings with many of the greatest players of the twentieth century. Paul Truong offers a blow-by-blow narrative of the U.S. team's silver medal at the 2004 Olympiad in a long chapter near the end.
Polgar's writing is awkward (probably a lot like mine would be if I were writing in my fourth language), and the book has a large number of obvious writing errors that would have been caught by any competent copy editor. The binding is also slightly substandard, crowding the margins on pages near the two sections of photos.
The chess annotations are detailed, including many games by each of the sisters in which every move has a comment from Susan.
I give Susan Polgar a B for this book, but her publisher gets a D. Someone should have straightened out her awkward prose, and ensured that everything was proofread carefully.
Originally posted by WulebgrIs it any good?
Susan Polgar's book arrived today, so I read it. She explains briefly how the Polgar family life produced three of the world's strongest players, and also describes her meetings with many of the greatest players of the twentieth century. Paul Truong offers a blow-by-blow narrative of the U.S. team's silver medal at the 2004 Olympiad in a long chapter near ...[text shortened]... ld have straightened out her awkward prose, and ensured that everything was proofread carefully.
Originally posted by RegicidalThe story is interesting. The annotations are instructive. The writing is horrid.
Is it any good?
The book reads as well as papers written by college frosh that earn Cs and Ds in English Composition. Such writing never should be published.
The publisher irresponsibly rushed the book into print. They should have said, "Susan, you have a great story to tell. Let's get a terrific editor to help you render prose in your fourth language as clear as that produced by our best native writers." Instead, it appears that even the usual proofreading was not part of the publication process.