Editor and chief of Discover, Hoffman's book is part memoir (the story of his childhood in Greenwich Village with a brilliant, bohemian, Ping-Pong-hustling dad, and his escape into chess to avoid facing unpleasant truths about his father) and part an insightful look at the crazy world of championship chess, including the stereotypical lunatic Russian grandmasters (one asked that his chair be x-rayed and dismantled to make sure Bobby Fischer hadn't implanted a harmful radiation emitter inside it).