Books on endgames

What book on endgames would you recommend for someone who yo-yos within a hundred-or-so points of 1500 to buy? More particularly, I'd like a book that

a. is selective. I find that some chess books aim at being comprehensive, to the point that they will include every piece of knowledge and every possible contingency; I find this approach overwhelming, as it is often difficult to separate the essential from the specialized. I'd prefer a book in which the author selects those aspects of the endgame that he/she thinks are most important and presents them in a clearly organized fashion.

and

b. contains enough material to merit purchasing it, rather than borrowing it from a library. (I frequently check out chess books using Inter-Library Loan.) A book, for example, that contains only a few basic endgame scenarios, with maybe one or two examples of each, is not what I'm looking for; I'd read it through once and be done with it. I'd like something that I could continue to study from for some time.

Two possibilities I encountered on amazon.com were 100 Endgames You Must Know by Jesus de la Villa and Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master by Jeremy Silman. Would you recommend either of these titles, or a different one entirely?

Thanks!

Both "100 Endgame you must know" and "Silman's complete Endgame course" is an excellect & Must read for under 2000 rated players i think. Jesus dela villa's book is really nice & not boring at all that i can assure you.

I can recommend Silman's book handsdown.  Another I have been looking at getting for myself is "Learn from the Legends" by Mihail Marin.  He takes a really interesting approach to Endgames and he is already a highly acclaimed author.

I love the Silman book. Very well laid out.

Thanks, everyone. Silman seems to be the most universally recommended, so I'll start with that--although I do like John Nunn, so I may check out Understanding Chess Endgames as well. From what I can ascertain on amazon.com, de la Villa's book might be aimed at slightly more advanced players than me, so I think I'll wait on that one for now.

Your description of what you're asking for matches Silman's book to a T.  I would recommend also picking up something more comprehensive as a reference source, but for a focus on the most common "need to know" endgames, his book focuses specifically on that.