Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

Bird lost a match to Steinitz by a mrer 7 to 6. 

'Bird is one of history's greatest non-GM chessplayers.' I said, but I was
wrong.

Steinitz was a tough cookie. Losing 7-6 makes Bird a GM in my estimation.

More than superb, optimal!

The book itself is very disorganized and tough to read, with many passages
that are repetitive and uninteresting.

However, enough of Bird's personality shines through that I am glad to have
made his acquaintance.

To correct what I said earlier about the time of his career -- it was from
before the first tournament up to the times of Lasker.

This book by Harry Bird in 1893 was put up by CVPage in 2002.  H.E. Bird (1830-1908) of course revived Carrera's Chess in the 1870s after 250 years, and Capablanca made his version 50 years later.  Capa gets the credit because doing more with it in public play and being GM too. Bird's meandering style and coverage of chess history must have influenced countryman H.J.R. Murray's 1913 'History of Chess'.

'gnohmon' is Ralph Betza nom de plume, and Betza weighs in on Bird in this comment under the Gutenburg book : 

gnohmon wrote on 2002-04-06 Excellent ★★★★★

'More than excellent, superb! Harry Bird is one of history's greatest non-GM chessplayers. His originality combined with his longevity (he played against Morphy, and he played against Lasker, maybe even against Vidmar, if I remember rightly) combined with his strength (not a world champion, but surely stronger than me) make him one of the more interesting personalities in modern chess history. I have often heard of this book, but was never fortunate enough to find a copy. Now I can read it at last. More than superb, optimal!'

Vidmar (1885-1962), mentioned by Betza above.

[ Use of "meandering" style of Bird and Murray reminds of why rivers meander by Albert Einstein in 1926: Meandering, off topic in that Einstein friend GM Lasker (1868-1941) competed with Capablanca so much -- including Capablanca Chess. Physicist Einstein and mathematician Lasker colleagues: Science/Chess. ]