First chess book: John Bain or Dan Heisman?

I think I've managed to narrow down my search, and now I thought I'd ask the audience. 

I am wondering if anyone could weigh in on helping me decide between Dan Heisman's 'Back to Basics Chess Tactics', and John Bain's 'Chess Tactics for Students'.

Most people seem to favour Heisman, but I have also read that Heisman's book could be little too complex for someone of my level. Of course, I want a challenge, but my level is low... so I don't want to be completely put off by potentially biting off more than I can chew. 

If anyone has had any experience with these books and could throw some light on the situation, that'd be super.

Thanks in advance. 

I don't have the Heisman book, but I have Bain's (somewhere...).  I do remember it was highly recommended by Heisman though as part of his "pattern recognition" approach to chess.  Bain isn't difficult and pretty much all his puzzles can be eventually figured out, but that wasn't why Heisman recommended it.  He wanted you to be able to look at each position and be able to almost instantly recognize the tactic and solution.  If you can get a rock solid foundation in basic tactics, then you'll save a lot of time (and frustration) later.  The well known metaphor is from construction and it compares building chess skills to pouring cement floor by floor.  If the bottom floors haven't cured properly, then they can't support the weight of additional floors being poured.  So in chess, if you don't have the basics down, then trying to calculate deeply will become an exercise in frustration.

So I probably didn't help much...LOL.  Good luck with whatever book you choose, but remember the goal is to recognize patterns, rather than figure them out and that will require persistent repeated effort.

@baddogno, thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed response.

You have helped, and I think I've made my mind up and will order Bain's book - even for the sake of it being easier and probably more digestible!  It seems that pattern recognition is very important, so I need to get stuck in. 

I had initially thought about a book on openings, but it seems best to study one or two and then to focus on tactics. I won't be obsessing over ratings or anything like that... I would just like chess to be part of a broader self-development mission.  

Thanks again for the response, much appreciated. You've helped me make my mind up. 

Glad to help.  Unfortunately most of Heisman's articles (including the one giving detailed instruction on how to use Bain's book) are now hidden behind a paywall.  I think you made the right choice, but of course you will eventually need to go beyond the Bain book.  Nothing wrong with having an opening book as a reference, but it's too early to obsess over your opening repertoire.  Fundamental Chess Openings by van der Sterren is generally considered the gold standard for one volume opening books. He covers everything, but no more than 8 to 12 moves deep, and with quite complete explanations of why moves are made.  It's not unusual for him to devote a paragraph to the reasoning behind a single move.  He's also good at tracing the historical development of an opening to help you understand it.  Highly recommended as a reference book.  And of course I guess I should plug chess.com's premium membership since "bang for the buck" it's hard to beat.  They have a new series of Lessons that alternate short video presentations with quizzes to check your understanding.  Very well done.  So good luck with your chess!

Ivashchenko.

As usual, IM pfren is a man of few words.  I hope this is what he is suggesting:

https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Chess-Combinations-Vol-1a/dp/5946930451/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1549148146&sr=8-4&keywords=ivashchenko+chess

Hey, don't go too advanced.

Heisman.

I've read both the Heisman book and the Bain book. I'll take the easy way out and say that you need both of them. The Bain book is a good near-beginner tactics set, but the Heisman book also gives a little necessary theory that's missing in the Bain book. If you haven't read Heisman's discussions of the "seeds of tactical destruction" and the most basic tactic of counting, I think you need the Heisman book. Heisman's book has some easier tactics problems, and it also has some tactics that might be a bit beyond you for now. You could just skip the harder ones for now. One thing I like about Heisman's book is that it doesn't have an unrealistically high percentage of queen sacrifices. You don't often see queen sacs in real games.

If you put a gun to my head and made me choose just one, I'd say Heisman. I think the basic theory is more important for a beginner. You can always practice tactics online any time you want.

Some suggestions here....

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond....

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

regarding Dan Heisman.....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/dan-heisman-resources

Thank you so much for all the feedback here, I wasn't sure if the forums are very active, but it's nice to see that they are... and that people take the time to respond. 

I was about to go for Bain, but when I shopped around online, Heisman was considerably cheaper and had faster delivery options (I'm a little impatient at the moment, which probably doesn't help the chess quest). So I ordered Heisman in the end.

I will still shop around for Bain, and take heed of the other suggestions that have been kindly brought into the frame.  

Thanks again, this site is already useful to me now.  I've been here a little while, but only recently in earnest.