A mate told me that tactics is the surest way of improving ones game quickly, is he right? I've been doing loads of tactics and found it very useful in some instances but am not sure if it's the best way of improving

Like when constructing a building... how high/big do you want it to be?  The higher the rating you're shooting for, the better you'll want your foundation to be.

Drilling tactics is the fastest way for a beginner to improve.  But as you may be guessing, doing tactics exclusively will only take you so far, eventually you'll have to go back and work on that foundation :)  Tactics certainly never hurt you, but imaging that's all you do for 5 years, you're going to pick up a lot of bad habits though actual game play without really knowing it.

So for the short term, yes it's the fastest way to improve.  For the long term,  you'd want your study to be more balanced.  So go ahead and do tactical drills, no matter your goals, just don't do them exclusively for a long time if you're in it for the long haul.

Could you explain what sort of bad habits i may be learning?  I have been running tactics trainer here and have felt like I have learned a lot.  However, i am not sure i am improving exactly because it seems like a lot of times i am over complicating the positions.  usually it involves my oppentent not making the move i expected, so obviously, they don't know tactics as well as i do, hahaha. 

Tactics are very important, and pretty much all coaches and players will say so.

That out of the way again... you ask what are some of the bad habits?  Many positions have no tactics, and you need to find a non-tactical move that at the very least doesn't hurt your position.  Patience with a position is something I think about every class player has to work on, but for someone who only does tactics this would be especially hard.  An easy way for an expert to beat a class B player for example would be to just wait for them to hurt their own position.

Eventually you'll face players who are beating you and you're not sure why.  Material stays even, but your position is miserable and you never have any tactics available to win something.  Your opponent just stays solid and you feel like you have no good moves.

Basically that's how it always feels to be "outplayed" instead of losing due to a blunder, but again someone who only ever did tactics would run into this more often (as any kind of two dimensional player would).

So what should he study besides tactics. Can you give the names of books thAt would be helpful? Stwils

Depends what you want to get into -- basic endgames and strategy are good.  Seirawan's Winning Chess Series has an endgame book and a strategy book, both are good.

Pachman's "Modern Chess Strategy" is one worth reading more than once as you continue to improve.

If you're really interested in endgames, Silman has his massive book (that divides the info by skill level): "Silman's Complete Endgame Course."  Silman's "The Amateur's Mind" is also well regarded but in terms of a strategy book, I would get it after Pachman.  As a general improvement book you could get it first though.

thanks honda.  that makes perfect sense.  may even explain the position i am currently in.  i ended up with both of my bishops on the same side of the board (queenside) in a sort of stacked fianchetto attacking his king side.  seemed like a solid position to me (and maybe it is in many circumstances) but i think it is safe to say that he has negated any advantage that i thought it would get me.  but, i am learning. 

i do think that tactics has helped me feel like "i am not sure what to do" less often, but it definately does nail me sometimes.

i think i need to learn more about positional play.  my dad (my main opponent and much better than i am), often times places a single piece in a position that just shuts down my entire attack, usually hindering my defence at the same time. 

i am thinking about upping my membership so i can play with chess mentor.  i did a few demos and i think it will help me the way that it has the puzzles but then tells you why the moves you make are good or bad.