I looked closer at the book and it's actually by Eric Schiller.

Complete Defense to Queen Pawn Openings.

I've got a board set up in the bathroom now, and will use it as a bathroom book.  So I guess the focus for me should be eating a lot of KFC and chili and getting my dump on.

On the bright side, it sounds like this Silman guy is great.  He'll be the next one I check out.  Then pretty soon I'll start thinking like everyone else!   Thanks for the recommendations.

I am now very interested in buying Silman's "How to Reasses Your Chess."  Although my children accuse me of spending large amounts of time "getting my dump on", it might nearly be a toss-up with the amount of time I spend at my computer.  Can anyone recommend a simple, clean chess program that I could use to follow along with the book, if I were to purchase Silman's book?  It would be a bonus, I think, if the software would be suitable for composing chess problems (I'm not trying to flatter myself to be a composer--I'm merely interested in trying to see if I can invent a problem or two.)  I'd also be thrilled if the software was free:).  Thank you also, for the recommendations!

Vulkar summed it pretty well.It s of crucial importance to define an objective for the game.Find a gameplan and stick to it.