Walter de Gruyter & co., Berlin, 1961, in German language, paperback, xi+259 pp, 390 grams, 4 pages of photos, fair condition, no inscriptions.

Milan Vidmar was born July 22, 1885, in Ljubljana, back then Austria-Hungary, after 1918 Yugoslavia, today known as Slovenia. After the end of World War I, Vidmar was appointed as professor for electrical engineering at the Technical Faculty of the University of Slovenia in Ljubljana, a post he had till 1950.

It is remarkable that Vidmar was one of the best players of his time and yet also managed to make a distinguished career in his profession. He published a number of scientific articles about engineering and he also published books about chess. The best known is his memoir "Goldene Schachzeiten" (The Golden Times of Chess).

"His reminiscences on the chess scene in the first half of the 20th century are very personal and subjective, but precisely for this reason very lively – and where else can one produce a witness of this chess era who gives us the feel of experiencing it with him? One can discern three emphases in Vidmar’s work. Firstly, the portrayal of his own tournament career with its highs and lows and all the thereby collected experiences. Then, the remembrance of many masters and tournaments of the times, and finally, dealing with general questions of chess play and the profession of chess master. Of course, these three emphases cannot be separated and Vidmar skillfully weaves them together.

The contents of the book are fairly clear by the chapter titles: 1 . Nottingham 1936 2. An enormous struggle for the world championship 3. The Siren Call of Chess – Attractions and Seductions of chess play 4. Memories of S. Tarrasch 5. The career master problem 6. The ticking clock for the great masters 7. Setting traps in big chess matches 8. The end of a world championship dream 9. Is chess today sick?  All in all, a really lovely memoir with many affectionate details from chess life of the first half of the 20th century, of the epoch of the world champions Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine and Euwe as well as masters like Bogoljubov, Janowski, Maroczy, Nimzowitsch, Pillsbury, Reti, Rubinstein, Schlechter, Spielmann, Tarrasch, Tartakower, Teichmann, Chigorin and so forth. Spirited, sometimes humorous, sometimes reflective, written by an insider, with 12 photos and ca. 30 annotated games."