The Art of Sudoku – by Tee Gee

A book review by N.Balasingam

We are pleased to review this book written by another Malaysian. The Author, popularly known as Tee Gee, is Mr Lim Teck Guan, an Electrical Engineer, retired recently, having served in the LLN and subsequently in the privatised TNB. His entire career was with this one establishment.

He was introduced to Sudoku Puzzles two years ago and found himself with lots of time to engage in this new-found pursuit which, in his own words, he got ?hooked? to. He talked to all his friends about Sudoku and introduced many to the game.

Scouting around for books on Sudoku, to hone his Sudoku solving skills, he was not satisfied with what was available. This prompted him to consider writing a book, as suggested by his friends, to come up with a simple book to introduce the game for beginners.

Now, his focus was not only solving puzzles but also formulating his ideas for a book that will give beginners a jump start to Sudoku. This was the start of a new project, unlike the high tech (and High Tension) Engineering job at which he was adept. Having scoured the internet for more information and Sudoku solving techniques, he finally came up with his own system and proceeded to publish the Art of Sudoku ? A Step By Step Solution.

True to the title, he has actually taken the reader through the complete solution for the selected puzzle, instead of leaving him/her stranded after the initial steps to illustrate Sudoku solving methods. He has endeavoured to use the various techniques to enable the reader to solve an ?easy to medium? puzzle avoiding the confusion of introducing more advanced techniques to solve any puzzle.

Any beginner will find this book helpful to get him started on Sudoku puzzle solving and it will lay the foundation for more advanced puzzles, if the remaining 30 puzzles provided are solved, using the book as a reference. Once the reader gets a hang of the basic techniques, it will be easier to take on the more difficult puzzles. It may be of help for those who already play sudoku by trial and error, as a primer, but it is particularly recommended for the beginner.

The Malay Version

The pocket size of the book makes it convenient to carry it in the pocket or handbag. The prize is reasonable, compared to the books with lots of puzzles but with just some tips and techniques. Puzzles are freely available in the daily newspapers and the internet. The book retails at RM 19.90 and is available at MPH and myNEWS.com. A Bahasa Malaysia translation is now available.

Editor?s Note: Congratulation to TeeGee on publishing this book to help the thousands of would-be Sudoku Enthusiasts in Malaysia, who have not experienced the wonderful world of Sudoku. We hope that he continues to follow up with advanced versions of this book, which we believe his readers will look forward to. Those who have used his book are invited to leave your comments below.

Note from Sudoku.com.my: We have developed our own Sudoku software and will publish free online puzzles from July 2008.