Chess books! Why are they so hard to read??

I have been studying Jeremy Sillman and his teaching methods really help me read the board and whatnot.

I purchased 'The Amateur's Mind'. chess book.

After spending a whole week to just get to page 25, I have decided to scrap chess books in general. The annotations don't seem to make sense when I put them on the board and then the chapter is futile because I just couldn't figure out how to emulate the move onto my board. 

I feel really stupid but 2 chapters in so far, and each time I get stuck on weird annotations and couldn't reach the point of the chapter. I'm convinced the author has made a few errors with annotations too which makes it even more confusing. 

I'm hoping there are some current studies online so I can actually learn efficiently but I dunno, anybody has the same issue?

Example:

yeah - once you find mistakes - it throws your whole confidence in what is being taught out.
Different from a normal author's typos or % variables in studies as just one wrong square position and it's all stop.

Indeed! So annoying. I feel like I have plateaued from my own chess skillz but now I really need to understand some deeper concepts from experts to get to the next plateau, books are not gonna do that for me it seems.

There needs to be some magical software that will turn chess books into something efficient and interactive

@Pebble85, I don't get it. White captures the rook on b4, which got there on the previous move. What's the problem?

Even I am unable to find sense in the annotations and way of play. Instead I would play like this. Computer evaluation says it is .84 advantage in the initial position.

Man.... you guys are correct, this is all my fault, I think my eye's totally skipped a move actually (Rb4   /   xRb4). I will try again, but there must be a better way to study than this...Grrr. Thank you for giving me hope lol

My energy seems to be spent on getting the annotations right than the actual chess. I need to be more patient

Agreed, there's no mistake in the example given. @OP, please go through the moves again.

Yes, than the white would have connected passed pawn compared to single pawn for black after cxb5 by white.

@pebble85, chessable.com might be to your taste.

Cheers, I am aware the tools exist, but I really want to learn from the Jeremy Silman content so I have no choice but to follow the book if I want to follow his teachings

Black didn't follow the annotation

Whoops -- you may have missed Black's second move, 2. ... Rb4. Here is a software diagram to show what that stuff in the book looks like:

First I will say that your effort to read books is commendable. (I have a large stack of chess reading I keep procrastinating.) I would say that if you think that that particular book is too hard, don't be afraid to put it aside until you feel more able to understand the material. Personally, I would not recommend "The Amateur's Mind" to a player at your level (judging from your chess.com stats). Above all, make sure you are enjoying yourself as you learn.

Thank you for the response and I agree, glad I am not alone on the frustration

"Personally, I would not recommend "The Amateur's Mind" to a player at your level (judging from your chess.com stats)."

Ouch! haha but a fair comment, here I was, thinking I was actually decent at chess. What's below an Amateur? A Rookie's Mind? lol

Even your average GM is still an amateur player.

"... Sure, fast games are fine for practicing openings (not the most important part of the game for most players) and possibly developing decent board vision and tactical 'shots', but the kind of thinking it takes to plan, evaluate, play long endgames, and find deep combinations is just not possible in quick chess. … for serious improvement ... consistently play many slow games to practice good thinking habits. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2002)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627052239/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman16.pdf

I highly doubt this is true, but if it is it's only by choice. Even if they're not getting sponsorships they can at least write books, articles, act as a trainer, DVDs, all it needs is the title of GM. There's more grandmasters now but still only about 1,300 of them, in the grand scheme of things it's fairly small. If you're a GM people will be lining up to take lessons from you and you will be able to charge premium. 

In Iceland if you become a grandmaster you can look forward to an income guaranteed by law, you only have to undertake to do some chess training. Now could there be some amateur GMs? Sure, if they're lazy or lost interest in the game. 

Chess was never a good way to make money compared to other sports or careers, but claiming that the average GM is an amateur seems hard to imagine. I'm also excluding people over the retirement age. Correct me if I'm wrong, I could be wrong on this one but as I say I doubt it.   

Might be something in the idea that the average GM is still an amateur given the lack of cash in the game except at the upper levels and the average GM is not getting invited to play in top level events so will have to travel to opens and basically win to even recoup their expenses. Clearly the average GM can coach, write books or stream but most of them are not paying the bills by playing and even stronger than average GMs will pack chess in to follow a more lucrative career. Danny Gormally used to make youtube videos and said some interesting things about this, the videos are gone now which is a shame because hes a pretty interesting guy and explains the game well, despite this he was saying he wrote a book and sold something like 200 copies and thats not really going to be a living. Nepo called it right when he said he wished more players were invited to the big tournaments and given a chance - gets boring to watch the same few players making theoretical draws with each other after a bit, so must be tedious for the players; obviously the argument that these players are there on merit is rock solid but still more wildcards would make it more interesting, e.g, Korobovs performance in Bucharest GCT.

As for books, Silmans are pretty good but his sarky tone gets on my nerves quite quickly, you'd be better off buying anything by Jonathan Rowson.

Possibly of interest:

https://www.chess.com/blog/smurfo/book-review-insanity-passion-and-addiction
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/26/books/books-of-the-times-when-the-child-chess-genius-becomes-the-pawn.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2017/05/05/making-a-living-in-chess-is-tough-but-the-internet-is-making-it-easier/#4284e4814850

https://www.chess.com/news/view/is-there-good-money-in-chess-1838
"... Many aspiring young chess players dream of one day becoming a grandmaster and a professional. ... But ... a profession must bring in at least a certain regular income even if one is not too demanding. ... The usual prize money in Open tournaments is meagre. ... The higher the prizes, the greater the competition. ... With a possibly not very high and irregular income for several decades the amount of money one can save for old age remains really modest. ... Anyone who wants to reach his maximum must concentrate totally on chess. That involves important compromises with or giving up on his education. ... it is a question of personal life planning and when deciding it is necessary to be fully conscious of the various possibilities, limitations and risks. ... a future professional must really love chess and ... be prepared to work very hard for it. ... It is all too frequent that a wrong evaluation is made of what a talented player can achieve. ... Most players have the potential for a certain level; once they have reached it they can only make further progress with a great effort. ... anyone who is unlikely to attain a high playing strength should on no account turn professional. ... Anyone who does not meet these top criteria can only try to earn his living with public appearances, chess publishing or activity as a trainer. But there is a lack of offers and these are not particularly well paid. For jobs which involve appearing in public, moreover, certain non-chess qualities are required. ... a relevant 'stage presence' and required sociability. ... All these jobs and existences, moreover, have hanging above them the sword of Damocles of general economic conditions. ... around [age] 40 chess players ... find that their performances are noticeably tailing off. ..." - from a 12 page chapter on becoming a chess professional in the book, Luther's Chess Reformation by GM Thomas Luther (2016)
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/LuthersChessReformation-excerpt.pdf

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-chess-championship-inside-the-business-of-chess-magnus-carlsen-maurice-ashley-hikaru-nakamura-154502738.html

The Seven Deadly Chess Sins by Jonathan Rowson

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094244/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review274.pdf

"... Looking through the web, I noticed a huge chorus of Rowson critics and an equally vocal group of Rowson fans. ..." - IM Jeremy Silmam

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Seven-Deadly-Chess-Sins-81p3834.htm

http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/The_Seven_Deadly_Chess_Sins.pdf

Chess for Zebras by Jonathan Rowson

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233853/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review526.pdf

http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Chess_for_Zebras.pdf

Get the good books