I love to play cards with my children but can never rememberthe rules to my favorite games. This book has solved that problem forme :) It's amazing how a deck of cards and a rule book can bring a family together...

"101 Best Family Card Games" is a clear, consise and informative book. It explains the rules and course of play for many card games. The best part of the book is the section on why families should play together. I also found the card games explained in the "For the Family with Young Children" to be a great guide and a wonderful source for my young children.

Kaplan and Sheinwold defined their K-S bidding system so well in the late fifties that newer editions of their original book remain the definitive reference. The weak one notrump opening is as good an idea now as it was in 1959. Standard American bidders can switch to K-S and probably improve their bidding significantly just by adopting the weak one notrump opening (and the many implications thereof). The only weakness this volume suffers is the absent index.

As a serious bridge player during the seventies, I wore the cover off of more than one copy of this book. Except for a mystical group of international players, the Italian "Blue Team" (la squadra azura), bidding methods were universally "Goren" or "Culbertson". Kaplan and Sheinwold were two of a few luminary stars who challanged orthodoxy with radical bidding concepts in the Amarican Bridge arena and helped to re-establish Ameraca's status in international championship play. Based on the weak (12-14)notrump, five card majors and weak two bids, This agressive system presented tools for players to really think about what they were bidding and why. Along with the Roth-Stone system, Shenken, and the Precision Club, K-S provided a pathway for serious bridge players to move into the world of modern, thoughtful bridge play.

This book is so fun and easy to read, it actually got me, a non-player, interested in bridge. Then when the internet came along, I was able to play easily using the Yahoo! servers. That's when I picked it up again.

It's organized logically: 35 lessons, 1 per day for 5 weeks, in the following order: rules, scoring, bids, notrumps, rebids, slams, competitive bids, doubles, finesse, squeezes, and on to esoteric tips that only the masters need to learn about. It covers the conventions naturally, as they come up, and also lets you know which ones are frequently needed and which are "once in a blue moon." There are plenty of examples and self-tests along the way, which let you know if you need to reread a section.

Best of all is the writing - Sheinwold is witty, making you feel like an insider to the world of smart bridge playing. If you're a beginner, you'll find him lucid and easy to follow; even a pro should take tips from the later sections. You needn't get far through the book before you start wishing you had a better partner, which I think is probably the ultimate test of any bridge book.

Sheinwold himself is an interesting fellow - a native of Great Britain, he grew up in the USA, then headed the Department of Codes and Ciphers of the O.S.S. during World War II. He returned to bridge when the war was over, making his living at playing and writing about bridge.

This book was written in 1959, but isn't dated at all, and its long life should be the best testimony to its merit. There are two very, very mildly misogynistic jokes ("who can ever tell what a woman is thinking?" is the worse of them) scattered in the text, which were well within the bounds of repartee in 1959, but which don't seem appropriate in 2003. That's the only bad thing I can find to say.

If you have any interest in bridge, you ought to read this book!

If you're looking for in depth strategy and complex bidding systems for winning duplicate bridge, this is NOT the book you seek. If, however, you are looking for a quick read before you go to your first duplicate game, or if you are saddled with the task of organizing an impromptu tournament to "try something new", you won't regret purchasing this book. Furthermore, it will give you a firm foothold from which to explore the more detailed books on strategy and bidding.

This book is excellent for someone who wants to get a full basic education in bridge bidding and play.

In addition to giving you the rules of bidding, it explains the logic behind the bidding, so the player can use the techniques to communicate fully within their partnernership.

It is laid out in a simple to use format and was terrific for bringing me up to speed as a Bridge bidder.

In addition, Alfred Sheinwold was the author of the daily bridge column in most newspapers, which has been taken over by Frank Stewart, so that the reader/player can practice on a daily basis, the concepts introduced with the same bidding system. After going through this book, I found I could usually get the newspaper quiz right, due to the knowledge gained from this book, which is not true for most of the people I play with, although they have years more experience.

Worth the time and effort for beginning players, and intermediate players who think they need to fill in gaps in their game.

Still the best introduction to the game of Bridge, ever, hands down. Laced with humor and common sense. Sheinwold is far superior to Goren as a writer and teacher. Teaches literally EVERYTHING a beginner needs to know. Read it and buy a copy for your favorite partner.

Have read other reviews on this site and agree the only outdated info is the emphasis on bidding 4 card majors....however, this is minor given the overall knowledge that is imparted to the reader. For a book written 40 years ago, its relevance today is a testament to Mr. Sheinwold's teaching ability.

I have been playing duplicate for over 20 years and found the book so helpful in my early years that I am always searching for copies to give to new bridge players!!