Zurich 1953 - What's The Big Deal ?

Zurich 1953 - What's The Big Deal ?

Many strong players swear by this book and it gets good reviews on Amazon. I just don't see why it's regarded as "great"..."good" may be ....anyone think to the contrary ?

I think it's great! My first tournament chess book, and I played through all but a few games. Wonderful book!

"What's the big deal?" It's a cool book. And it's chess related. What more do you want? People saying Bronstein didn't write anything of it incoming in 5...4...3...2...

After reading how Bronstein has said games were thrown during it and the soviet government was strong arming players, I wonder how many moves in any game played by a soviet player were legitimate moves.  I'm not good enough to know the difference, so now I look at the old soviet games with suspicion.

What do you think is the most valuable game collection(s) for a beginner-improver to work through?  I am just curious because I love game collections!

Thanks

I think it's reputation is a bit dated now.

The book is overrated, but for many years it was in fact one of the best books one could find on the middlegame. Times have changed, since 1953 hundreds of excellent books were written by the likes of Nunn, Kasparov, Tal, Timman. It is not a standout anymore. 

Quite apart from the analysis, which I am not qualified to judge, I have to say I was disappointed with it as a literary work. It wasn't the gripping read I was led to believe from some reviews. Also, the edition I bought wasn't even properly typeset but looked like someone typed it out.