Chess books for a beginner

I'm looking for some books that I can learn from. I've known chess for years, but I haven't taken it seriously until now.

Can anyone recommend some good books for me to learn from?

Either get a membership here and work on tactics trainer or buy a tactics book.

What tactics books do you recommend?

The Game of Chess Tarrasch:

http://www.uscfsales.com/the-game-of-chess.html

Lasker's Manual:

http://www.amazon.com/Laskers-Manual-Chess-Emanuel-Lasker/dp/188869050X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362849531&sr=8-1&keywords=Laskers+manual

1000 Checkmate Combinations:

http://www.amazon.com/1000-Checkmate-Combinations-Victor-Khenkin/dp/1906388709/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362849588&sr=1-1&keywords=1000+Checkmate+Combinations

What about MCO or Pawn structure? Or how about logical chess move by move?

Thanks, but what about openings and tactics? 

Beginning back in the days of I.A. Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld, both of whom confused me more then helped, I have been reading chess books. Currently my library has about three feet of space devoted to chess books by several authors from speed chess champions to Grand Masters. I know we all learn differently but, for me,the only author I have managed to actually read cover to cover and not just use as spot reference is Yasser Seirawan! He has written a seven book set that begins at the basics, has a book on tactics, one on strategy, an ending book, an opening book and more. His opening book has a unique approach to understanding openings, but even better it has an opening solution approach for you as white and two for playing black depending on whether you are facing a King or Queen pawn opening. I have found these books in used book stores and on line at Amazon, in good condition, for $10 to $12. Not bad for the BEST beginner / intermediate books I personally have ever found. Not only that, the first three or four books were co-written by Chess.com's own Jeremy Silman.

Thanks for the help. What about MCO? Isn't MCO a good book for openings?

Could you link me to those books please?

Go to amazon.com and look for Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess series. The books are Play Winning Chess (read this book first!), Winning Chess Tactics, Winning Chess Strategies, Winning Chess Brilliancies (a collection of 25 of the greatest master games ever played and his thoughts on each move), Winning Chess Openings, Winning Chess Endings, and Winning Chess Combinations. Prices vary but the books I paid $10 to $12 or $15 for were in great shape.

Just go with "How To Beat Your Dad At Chess", it'll help you learn basic mating patterns.

I don't think you really need any other books, you just need to keep playing and solving tactics but if you want to just buy a book about all stages already you can go with..

Chernev - The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played : 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy (Awesome game collection)

Stein - Simple Chess (Strategy)

Seirawan - Winning Chess Openings - Endings

So would you suggest MCO after I get better at the game?

Out of curiousity, why hasn't anyone recommended Jeremy Silman? I was about to buy his book - How to reassess your chess, but I don't know if it's too advanced for me. 

How to Reassess your Chess is much too advanced for you. I would recommend Chernev's Logical Chess: Move by Move: Every Move Explained.

The bulk of your chess "study" time at your level should be tactics training. And be sure to play plenty of slow games (at least 30 minutes per side, preferably something like 45 45 [45 minutes each side, with 45 second increment]), which will help you improve far more than if you play mostly blitz.

Dan Heisman has an excellent page of Recommended Chess Books organized by level.

i obviously would go with Silman!! At least i would get the endgame book or study his chessmentor lessons...

there is a chess steps program of books if you are wanting a series, I've heard it's good, but never read any.  I recently bought Yusupov's "build your chess", it is more of a study and learning type of book, but it goes through a lot of different aspects from opening, tactics, endgame, and more.  There is a tactics book by Martin Weteschnik called "Understanding chess tactics".  I will paste a link for the chess steps learning method

If a person looks at chess books predominantly the activity regards algebraic coordinates and move by move analysis.  What seems to be lacking in many books is assessment of defensive and offensive movements and implications of move timing, specifically quiet moves vs. forcing moves with many different scenarios.  Some may say that these assessments are unneeded because this is a personal opinion as to what may happen.  Simultaneously by having such viewpoints, a player is able to train specifically for different outcomes, depending on 1)what style of game is wanted(aggressive vs. quiet) 2) and the feel of the game.  As such, I highly recommend that chess players also study Go, or wei chi.

At http://tsumego.tasuki.org/?page=tsumego a player may learn from free Go problems.  There are no answers, as the point is once the player understands the Go game rules, it is simple to read out the variations, and there may be more than one correct answer.  At http://senseis.xmp.net/?BeginnerStudySection  there is more than enough material for a Go/chess player to study and improve their reading.

Chess has a movement aspect to the game and as such tactical study and reading out variations can be difficult.  

I suggest Go problems as a welcome variant to the chess players study.

Thank you so much. I was looking at that book, but I wasn't sure which book to purchase first. When should I go for silman?

I am in the process of relearning chess. "the complete idot's guide to chess by patrick Wolffcovers all the phases.It's easy to read and understand. There's a ouiz or exercise after each chapter (with answers & explainations).

I was  and am quite impressed with this book.

Out of curiousity, why would you relearn chess?