The Principle Of Restricted Talent

by Danny Kleinman and Nick Straguzzi

This book is about a bridge-playing robot called Chthonic and his adventures at and away from the bridge table. Not often have we come across a bridge book that instantly shifted our regular duties to second place. We finished the book the day we laid our hands on it, and not because it is a flimsy book; 21 stories, more than 200 pages, very well written with nice twists. Chthonic's analyses are frequently subtle, but if you have trouble following them, you surely won't have trouble understanding his dead-on-target insults. Chthonic's sometimes un-humanlike reasoning very much reminds us of our own Jack, and his knack for insulting people warns us that we should never, ever teach Jack to speak. Chthonic also reminds us of Jack occasionally when he blatantly ignores the human factor to focus exclusively on the technical aspects of the game, thus shooting himself in the foot.

The back cover of the book reads:
Chthonic, as he often reminds us, is the world's greatest bridge player. When it comes to pure technical skill, the Orttman Foundation's bridge-playing robot has no peer. Chthonic's brilliance at the bridge table is matched only by his contempt for all things human, which he makes no effort whatsoever to conceal. An array of digitized voices, ranging from George Sanders to Shirley Temple with stops at Richard Simmons and Mr. Rogers, only adds to Chthonic's ability to annoy and humiliate his opponents - some of whom actually deserve it. But on rare occasions, Chthonic does come out second-best; after all, he does have an Off switch.

We do not get any money for promoting this book, nor do we sell it. However, we do recommend it for your reading pleasure or as a gift for a bridge-playing friend.

Some links:

Masterpoint press
The publisher's website, which includes a list of vendors who sell the book.

The Bridge World
Most of the stories in the book appeared in The Bridge World magazine.