Chess books for begginers

Logical chess move by move - Chernov.

That's generous of you

But seriously, the Chernev book is a great recommendation. Though note that it does not teach you the rules of chess.

Opening Principles:

1. Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5

2. Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key

3. Castle

4. Connect your rooks

Tactics...tactics...tactics...

Pre Move Checklist:

1. Make sure all your pieces are safe. 

2. Look for forcing move: Checks, captures, threats. You want to look at ALL forcing moves (even the bad ones) this will force you look at, and see the entire board. 

3. If there are no forcing moves, you then want to remove any of your opponent’s pieces from your side of the board. 

4. If your opponent doesn’t have any of his pieces on your side of the board, then you want to improve the position of your least active piece. 

5. After each move by your opponent, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

Here are some reading possibilities that I often mention:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1948)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-back-to-basics-tactics
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Chess Endgames for Kids by Karsten Müller (2015)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/chess-endgames-for-kids/
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_Endgames_for_Kids.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090448/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review750.pdf
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner

http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf

https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf

Instead of a book, try Majestic Chess.  It is a chess video game; if you finish its adventure game, you'll probably be at chess.com 1200 (based on my own experience and observations of other game players).

Majestic Chess is better than books because it teaches you tactics and strategies (like books) but also gives you quizzes and tests you on what you've just learned... so things sink in.

Imagine this, you read about some tactics (e.g. pin) in a book, it is actually very difficult to try that in a real game (you'll need an opponent willing to help set it up for you because you are a beginner).  Majestic Chess takes care of this phase of learning.  It throws you into games against the computer that are pro-programmed to let you practice pins where you must be on the look out for pins around every corner to solve the game.

So, the cycle of learn concept, practice concept, remembering how to recognize concept in games... It allowed me to go from somebody who didn't know the rules of chess to 1200 chess.com in a few months.  (Now I'm stuck because I don't like to read chess books or watch chess videos... )

Any free e-books?

There are some downloadable chess books in .PDF format on scribd.com.  The site nominally charges about $9 USD per month, but there is a one-month free trial when you create a login.  You can cancel at any time, even during the free trial period.  So during the free trial it is possible to download any/all documents (i.e., pdf books) which they have available for free.  The "downloadable" books are listed/available only under the "Documents" menu; just enter a search term such as "chess" or title/author etc. under "Documents" menu/section.  (Note that the books available under the "Books" menu are "readable" on the website, but are not downloadable).