Can quantitative study of chess replace qualitative study.  The former chess champions had only a few old chess books in their library, Capabalanca had none not even a chess set, but they had great talents and skills.  Nowadays even a class E chess player has dozens of chess books, chess software, table-top computers as well as unlimited Internet resources but can hardly make any satisfactory progress.  As Capablanca said 'chess books are like glasses which are meant to help us see better but some use them as if they can confer sight.'  The whole culture of chess training and study should change.  Everyone needs to go back to Botvinnik's school again.

Since you seem to be proposing that chess players should return to study methods of earlier times, it sounds like you feel that players today, with their high-tech advantages, are not as good as players of yesteryear, yes? Are you thinking of certain levels or all of them in general? That is, do you think that GMs or Super GMs or World Champion Class players of today are weaker than their counterparts in the days of Lasker, Capa, and Botvinnik? Do you think that class players are weaker now than then? I guess I'm also asking if you think that quality study is available only through low tech equipment, i.e., a book.

I think the key is finding quality within the quantity. I myself have over 80 chess books, but only really have 12 or so that I would definitely not give up. Then there exists the secondary problem, which is actually at the forefront of my own chess failings, the problem of getting myself to actually spend time studying purposefully. Too many times in my own experience, I sit with the tools in my hands but with an utter lack of determination. I have some of the finest chess books available, a GM strength chess engine, and two top notch computer study programs, not to mention access to chess.com's store of resources. I don't, however, put proper effort in. My tip to any chess student is to seek out quality materials, be it stuff you come across yourself or suggested to you by knowledgable sources, and to use the materials in a mindful manner.

i think everyone has their own way of learning - some people prefer to play a lot of games and develop better instincts, some pople prefer to play few games but analyze them thoroughly to understand why certain moves are good and bad, and some people like to read tons of chess books to find out what other people know, or some combination of the three. there is no "people should do this," in chess because that's just the way that it is everywhere.