There are two versions of My System being sold on Amazon, one is the Lou Hays 21st century published in 1991 and the other one is the Quality Chess edition published in 2007? Does anyone here know which is the better book?

Many of the 142 reviews on Amazon discussed the differences between the two editions. Many people expressed strong opinions. The choice seems pretty clear to me.

However, things aren't that simple. There is a new translation coming out in May 2016, which includes "My System" and "Chess Praxis" and other works, which will be published by New in Chess.

I have both versions you describe.  Which one to recommend is a difficult call as far as I am concerned.  They are both good, but slightly different in the way they were translated.

The Quality Chess translation, from my perpespective, is more faithful to the original German edition, in terms of the accuracy of translation.  I think this would be obvious to anyone making a comparison of the Quality Chess vs the Hays edition.  Because of this, I find the QC edition slightly more "cumbersome" to read (early 20th century German, even in translation, is not the most user friendly reading experience for a native English speaker).

On the other hand, the Hays translation takes the approach of rendering the English easier to read, without losing the essence or point of what is being communicated.  The Hays translation is certainly faithful, but not quite as accurate relative to the original German, as the QC edition.

It is possible that some may disagree with my perspective, but I also think that those who have both books would understand what I am trying to convey, and would tend to agree, more often than not, with my assessment.

As far as the physical quality of the books (printing, paper, binding etc. - which has nothing to do with the content), I would have to give the nod to Quality Chess. But again, even in this regard, the Hays edition is good.

Having said all this, as I stated in the beginning, both books are, in all respects, quite good and, in spite of my slight preference for the Hays edition, you would probably be happy with either choice.

Amazon.com link....

http://www.amazon.com/My-System-Chess-Praxis-Landmark/dp/9056916599/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452873228&sr=1-1&keywords=my+system+robert+sherwood

The Sherwood translation of My System is available now for $13.99 for an Ipod app offered by e+books. (As far as I can see, there is no Android version.)