Nadia's Reviews > Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion

A lot of great advice written clearly and usefully, cleverly laid out and accessible. My criticisms are that 1. Sirlin writes as though he assumes the reader is a straight man throughout with only one exception, and as a queer woman I found that pretty irritating and alienating. 2. Sirlin's personal prowess is in street fighter games, which I have no complaint with, but sometimes the long anecdotes about a host of games I have no interest in got a bit wearing even though the teaching points of the anecdotes were worthwhile. Even so, I would recommend this book to others intent on improving their ability to win games. Let's face it, if you're a pro gamer or would-be pro gamer and you're not male, this book is hardly going to be a drop in the bucket of the exclusion you're likely to experience.

The book does largely presume that you intent to play at tournament level if not actually professionally in your game(s) of choice so, while it still contains a lot of valuable advice, if that isn't your aim then a fair bit will be irrelevant to you.