A most unfortunate chess book

Winning Pawn Structures by GM Alexander Baburin (1998)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140718055446/http://chesscafe.com/text/wps.txt
Understanding Pawn Play in Chess by GM Drazen Marovic (2000)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708110136/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review249.pdf
Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess by GM Drazen Marovic (2001)
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/books-of-many-flavours
Winning Chess Middlegames, An Essential Guide to Pawn Structures by GM Ivan Sokolov (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708091955/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review676.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/922.pdf
Pawn Structure Chess by GM Andrew Soltis (2013)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708101523/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review908.pdf
Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide by GM Mauricio Flores Rios (2015)
"There is also masses of stuff in the book that made me go 'Oooh!' and 'Aaah!' so I think it will have the same effect on you! In particular, I loved Rios' exposition of White's plan of exerting queenside pressure against Hedgehog systems. I'd seen one of the games he quotes in his chapter but I'd never remotely made any link to a structured way of fighting the Hedgehog structure, so this chapter was a real eye-opener for me ...
In conclusion, warmly recommended. Lots to learn!" - GM Matthew Sadler
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7495.pdf
The Power of Pawns by GM Jörg Hickl (2016)
"The didactic concept of the book is admirable. Each chapter defines the structures, explains the typical characteristics and shows the plans for both White and Black. The reader participates by assessing positions and invariably receives useful tips for practical play." - FM Harry Schaack
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/the-power-of-pawns/
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9034.pdf
In post #8, someone reported a passage from Pawn Power in Chess by Kmoch: "The lengthening of the rearspan is often favorable, inasmuch as the expansion of territory behind the pawn increases the freedom of the pieces. By the same token, the shortening of the frontspan limits the freedom of the opposing pieces."
I'm not exactly a big fan of that sort of writing, but there nevertheless seems to be a widespread opinion that the Kmoch book is worthwhile.

This is a fascinating perspective that I never would have thought of. My German is not nearly good enough to read these books in the original, but when I refer back to them I will keep your comments in mind. Ich danke Ihnen vielmals.

Yes, quite so.  I thank you as well for this insight.  Now it all makes sense why people complained about the terminoloy in Han's book.   Important nuance gets lost in translation.  

Unfortunately, all I remember from my wasted two years of high school German was the razzing my fellow "D" students used to give one another:  "Halt dem mund" and "Du bist ein dummkopf!"

Speaking of Tarrasch, I heard that there are no good translations of his work "300 games of chess."  Is that true?

"... A few years ago, I borrowed and read a copy of the German edition of '300 Chess Games' ... I don't have the German edition any more in order to make a direct comparison, but the translation by Sol Schwarz is unpretentious, literate, and reads very well, qualities lacking in the translations of many chess books. ..." - IM John Watson (2000)

http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/looking-back-part-1

@OldPatzerMike -

Thanks for the comments on the additional books dealing with pawn play.  With the exception of Baburin's book I had acquired them all years ago;  at the time I was not capable of appreciating them as much as I might now.  Since then I had only superficially delved into them, but based upon that brief exposure, and looking at them again recently with a new perspective and appreciation, I can agree with your comments that they would be very worthwhile.  In particular, I am now motivated to begin working with Marovic's two books on pawn play which I believe would be excellent follow-on's to Kmoch's book.  And then hopefully, continuing with Sokolov's book.   So thanks for helping to motivate me!

Understanding Pawn Play In Chess by Drazen Marovic...

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Pawn-Chess-Drazen-Marovic/dp/1901983315/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1514282657&sr=8-3&keywords=drazen+marovic

Dynamic Pawn Play In Chess by Drazen Marovic...

https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Pawn-Chess-Drazen-Marovic/dp/1901983439/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1514282657&sr=8-4&keywords=drazen+marovic

Winning Chess Middlegames: An Essential Guide to Pawn Structures by Ivan Sokolov...

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Middlegames-Essential-Structures/dp/9056917501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514282828&sr=1-1&keywords=winning+chess+middlegames

By the way, that is a nice avatar photo of you and your canine friend - very cool! 

@RussBell

I do wish I had studied pawn play and pawn structures more assiduously before giving up chess all those years ago. Looking back at my poor understanding of the game in those days, I’m surprised I ever won a game. You and I seem to be on a parallel quest of chess improvement through better understanding of pawns. May we both be successful.

My canine friend is our Jack Russell terrier. He was a rescue dog and unbearable for the first few months we had him. But he gradually started behaving better, and today (which is his fourth birthday) he is the greatest dog imaginable. Except when he demands attention while I’m trying to study chess. lol

 @OldPatzerMike -

Yes. Sounds like we are on similar paths in our quest for chess improvement.  I get the most enjoyment (and I think, benefit) out of studying positional chess and pawn play...

This may be presumptuous, but It occurs to me that maybe there might be something in one of my blog articles that may pique your interest....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

There's a ton of great stuff on your page. Thanks for the link -- my chess reading, in addition to my study, for the next few days will consist of your blogs. 

I had heard that Pawn Power in Chess was/is available in algebraic notation. I searched and followed the forums here and found the ISBN 0-939298-79-1 (American Chess Promotions 1990).

I found the book on Amazon and it came a couple of days ago.

This book, is indeed, in algebraic notation. I do not have an original copy (descriptive notation), so I have not been able to compare the contents. 

I got lucky - I found a copy for less than $22 on Amazon (total after shipping was added). I see that copies are still available on that site, but are now priced  ~$75.

I had to erase some underlining with pencil in the first two chapters, but otherwise this book is in surprisingly good condition.

I have not delved into the contents, yet.

I originally learned descriptive chess notation in the mid-1990's, so it is not a huge turnoff for me. However, I choose not to deal with it when I don't have to.

I just wanted to add to the testimony that this book can be found in algebraic notation, but you may have to really search and be patient to avoid paying a high price for it.

As I have copies of both the Descriptive and Algebraic notation editions, except for the notation difference, the contents are identical.