Great Mahjong Book: History, Lore, and Play

Excellent book that explains all? of the major mahjong variants. I've played Hong Kong Old Style and Riichi, but I'm still pretty green, and was looking for a bit of detail and clarification, especially on scoring. In a couple of places I'd have liked a bit more clarity, but overall it seems admirably clear and complete. I can't say for sure that it has every major variant, but it has both variants I play and every other variant I know of, and several international rule sets I've never heard of besides. It also collects a number of the more popular variations on each version. It has information on why things are the way they are as well, which was great, and explanations of how to perform various setups, which is a very good idea in the modern era when a ton of mahjong play is online where all of that stuff is automated. For a very niche audience, to be sure, but I recommend it highly for that audience.

EDIT: I see many of the other reviewers didn't like this at all. A number of them appear to play American mahjong; there are tons of international versions of the game, but American is very unusual compared to the others. Most notably, standardized American mahjong allows as valid only hands that are printed on the official league card, which changes every year and which you must purchase. If you're interested specifically in American mahjong, there are probably better options. If you aren't sure what you want to play, or you want clarification on a specific version, this is a great source for that. If you don't know what to play, I would suggest either Hong Kong Old Style, probably the most popular version of Chinese mahjong, or Riichi, a popular Japanese variant that's made major inroads in the West through media like anime and the Yakuza series of video games. If you already have a local group, of course, you're best advised to learn whatever they play.