Which book on tactics? - Chernev vs Nunn vs Weteschnik

Nunn's book has difficult puzzles inside. I don't have Chernev and Weteschnik's books, but, if you want to start with simpler puzzles, I suggest you to take "Back to basics: tactics" by Dan Heisman and then Nunn's

If you have never studied tactics before I would recommend checking out Ward Farnsworth's Predator at the Chessboard at http://chesstactics.org/. It is written in words not notation, organized and comprehensive. Once you have studied Farnsworth, I would move on to http://chesstempo.com/.

what bardu said. plus chernev. chernev tactics will be 'exceedingly excellent', and farnsworth is just about the PERFECT intro to tactics book.  plus, farnsworth is availbale for FREE online, as noted above. It doens't give you lots of puzzles, and chernev will be great for that. Def stay away from Nunn or weteschnik for the first couple of years. Bardu's suggestion, coupled with mine and yours, is go from Farnsowrth to Chernev to chesstempo.com.

Winning Chess is a great book. I've gone through it at least three times. I like that each chapter covers only one concept. Like double attack, the pin, weak back rank, etc. And I believe all the solutions are only three moves long. This is a great book to learn all the tactical patterns in an organized and systematic way. I highly recommend this book.

I don't know about the other two books.

what expand said. yes, chernev's winning chess is an all time great book. and farnsworth on the web is a brilliant didactic tool.

The OP listed winning chess, and of his listed choices, chernev's 'winning' is by far the winner.  You def can't go wrong with it. Get it, or if you have it, open it. And for reading and nodding type of work, open up farnsworth's predator at the chessboard at chesstactics.org  

NOTE reading Farnsworth is INSUFFICIENT. reading and nodding is insufficient. Thats why chernev's winning is the best choice, as it gives instruction and problems to solve. 

OP is saying he is a beginner at tactics. Heisman's book is not a beginning tactics book, according to Heisman. 

I agree with Bardu. Fantastic website.

You don't have to just read it. You can look at the positions before the text.

true. 

Not included in the list, but should be, is Seirawan's "Winning Chess Tactics".  Excellent book.

Yakov Neishstadt's book is a fine choice.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/improve-your-chess-tactics-jakov-neishstadt/1102942349

chessmicky, I don't find Ippolito's book in kindle. Can you post a link to a kindle edition. I don't find it on Amazon.com

I don't know which Heisman quote you have in mind, but I'd say this topic is open to debate. True, Back to Basics: Tactics (BTBT) isn't the easiest tactics book I've ever seen. There are some that are easier than BTBT.

But quoting the book itself (bottom of page 9 and top of page 10): "This book is written for beginning players who have never played tournament chess or who possess a U. S. Chess Federation rating lower than 1500. There are definitely some problems in this book that would challenge players above 1500, but those players are not the primary audience of the book...This book is also useful for younger players who read at or near an adult level or who are aided by an older reader...".

I'd like to also point out that BTBT is one of the few tactics books that discusses the topic of tactical counting, which I think is critical for beginners to understand. (I'd read several tactics books before I discovered this idea.) Patrick Wolff's Idiot's Guide does mention counting, but it doesn't go into nearly as much detail as BTBT does. For this reason alone (counting), I'd say that BTBT is required reading for beginners.

Edit - I should probably add that Heisman has separately discussed counting in several of his free Novice Nook columns. If a beginner were to read the following article and all of the linked Novice Nooks, then there's probably no overriding reason for him to get BTBT. (However, I still think it's a very good tactics book for beginners and near beginners.)

http://www.chess.com/article/view/counting-vs-counting-material

on his book recommendations page Dan puts his Back To Basics Tactics in the Intermediate Books section, and has a whole bunch of other recommendations for easier tactics. He places his Back to Basics Tactics as right before Nunn's book. 

http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Events_Books/General_Book_Guide.htm

awesome. you just saved me about 25 bucks. I spoke with a seller in the US a few days ago, and they were going to charge me twenty bucks to send it to me. That, plus the cost of the book, would have made it a forty dollar purchase. Now I can get it for under $5. That link was invisible until you posted it here. Thanks. 

With due respect, I woudn't bother at all about 95% of mr. Heisman's book suggestions.

re: counting...yah, the novice nooks on counting really do a good job of that topic. Its not rocket science as a concept; its really an issue of taking the time to do the counting analysis.

Also, note that the tactics trainer on chess.com has many easy and intermediate counting problems. 

Although I don't hold the opinion that chess books are obsolete due to engines and databases nowadays(like some people), I do feel that TACTICS books are obsolete...Tactics trainers on the internet are much more effective and efficient for training tactics IMO.  Try chesstempo.com

Yeah, I'm familiar with Dan's list, but I suspect that wasn't Dan's intent. He lists Nunn's "Learn Chess Tactics" in the intermediate category, but his mention of BTBT is only as part of a discussion of Nunn's book. The exact quote is, "Learn Chess Tactics - Nunn - Superb descriptions of how each tactic works. This can almost be viewed as a successor book to my Back to Basics: Tactics since the problems are on the average much more difficult". So my interpretation is that he isn't really trying to classify his BTBT book, and he's only saying that Nunn's book is much more difficult than BTBT. So based on this discussion and the actual quote from BTBT, I'd say that BTBT is much closer to his basic category than his intermediate category. (Keeping in mind that there are some tactics books easier than BTBT, and a small number of problems in BTBT are over the 1500 level.)

in any case, the OP asked us to choose between three books, and of the three Chernev's Winning is by far the most appropriate for him.