Beginning Chess by Bruce pandolfini. The 1st half Isa review of the rules and an intro to the major basic tactics such as pin fork.and skewer the 2nd half is made up of 300 easy one move tactics puzzles- mates and non-mates. The answers to the puzzles include easy to understand explanations for each solution-analogous to an excellent secondary source math prep book or math website!
What's a good book for a relative beginner?
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And why single out " ignorant Americans " ? Are you an American hater as well as a Fischer hater ? Seems to me it would be more proper to say " ignorant chess players " and not limit it to one nationality . 
Nov 4, 2014
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#24
Ed_Seedhouse, it's a rare experience that I agree with everything anyone says, so I feel compelled to mention that, for what it's worth, I do agree with everything you've written so far in this thread.
rdecredico wrote:"
not even his chess, which tended to be vulgar and juvenile.
Lmao
Nov 4, 2014
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#27
biffrod wrote:
Here's my opinion on what I have seen in this thread:
First, of all the books you mentioned initially, ToddA10, 3 of them are sitting on my couch right now. I have been able to check them all out from my local library.
I think the best one for you of those is
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess, Third Edition
dummies is good, too - I'm going through that after I go through amateur mind.
Sillman and his imbalances is THE modern method, from I can tell. The chess coach I have had uses the imbalances for the outline for his lessons with his own material mixed in. Sillman, however, I think would be better after idiots and dummies, more intermediate-level. I recommend idiots very highly - I had to buy it. I wish that I had it growing up.
I would think the John Nunn book, the Susan Polgar book, and the old school books by Capablanca and Chernev would all be good choices, as well, and they're all on my amazon wishlist. And one more excellent choice would be the everyman series by Yasser Seirawan. I just finished going through this book, very well written.
Play Winning ChessWhich brings me to my final point: buy books used online; don't pay full price at the book store.
Ahh the Library. I should check that out too.
I am always amused by class players who think they can judge the play of the greats . Are they really so stupid/naieve as to believe they have any credentials at all to make such judgements ? Its also amusing to me that someone who apparently hates Americans ( US citizens variety ) so much chooses to live among them .
As a beginner one of my first books was How to Improve Your Chess by Horowitz and Reinfeld .... I dont remember a lot about it now however . 
Nov 4, 2014
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#30
Thanks. I found the algebraic version of that. Thank god. My brother has this old book "Most instructive games ever played" but I looked at it and got a bit confused by the notation.
Nov 4, 2014
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#31
LongIslandMark wrote:
biffrod wrote:
[...]
Which brings me to my final point: buy books used online; don't pay full price at the book store.
Capablanca's you can get as a free download. Big bonus - it's a great book.
Yes it's in the "free" domain now. I downloaded it, printed it out two sided just like a book. Went over to Office Max and for about $3.29 got it spiral bound. Looks great and easy to read anytime I want.
Nov 4, 2014
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#32
Reb wrote:
As a beginner one of my first books was How to Improve Your Chess by Horowitz and Reinfeld .... I dont remember a lot about it now however .
My first book was also by IA Horowitz. It was called something like Chess: Self-Teacher. I doubt it was spectacular, but it gave me an idea what to look for when playing and it was well written.
Nov 4, 2014
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#33
Speaking of Mr. SIlman, I find him to be incisive, quite intelligent, intense, engaging, creative and lucid. I guess since he doesn't suffer fool lightly, fools tend not to like him.
As far as Silman, it's one thing for mental elites to 'understand' knowledge and "write about it". But, it takes a whole different kinda personality to ALSO 'understand' that knowledge, and then "write about it in a way that noobs can comprehend".
IMO Silman is one of the MAIN(modern) reasons humans are currently playing the highest levels of chess ever played in history. Of course, the largest factor(by far) is the internet.
And I could give a rats ass about nationality here. Look at what Fisher turned into??(look at who, and what he was) We're talking chess here, chess goes deeper than what flag we salute.
Is silman his original title?Good then as it follow the tradition's of speilmann,pachman,speelman etc etc.
The title sounds so artificial.
rdecredico wrote:
IMT_2 wrote:
SilentKnighte5 wrote:
IMT_2 wrote:
How to Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman... If you have any talent for chess this book will be of great help in understanding basics. If you belive that this book is for higher level, look for some other hobby.
Horrible advice.
Really? ....Nah! I don't think so
It really is horrible advice.
People who recommend HTRYC to 1100 rated players should be banned from playing chess.
ToddA10 wrote:
Thanks. I found the algebraic version of that. Thank god. My brother has this old book "Most instructive games ever played" but I looked at it and got a bit confused by the notation.
Absolutely fantastic book and one of the best of its kind. Chernev is a great writer. It was very recently released in algebraic, but taking the time to learn descriptive will open up a bunch of good books that haven't been reprinted.
BigKingBud wrote:
IMO Silman is one of the MAIN(modern) reasons humans are currently playing the highest levels of chess ever played in history.
This is certainly an original take.
Many of these books only give you a superficial understanding of chess. When you get better, you will likely find that you need to relearn the basics properly in order to make sense of more complicated chess ideas, because you don't really UNDERSTAND chess. That is why I reccomend building a strong foundation from the start, by gaining a deep understanding of the basic underlying themes of the ancient game.
A highly enjoyable bestseller:
I suggest Learn Chess-A complete course by Alexander & Beach. I believe that it should take the reader to a 1600+ level.