I have a bunch of books, how do i improve?

Eat them.  Oh, but make sure to eat a full set of chess pieces at the same time, otherwise your stomach won't have anything to analyse with, and as such all the unconscious absorption effects will be lost, and you'll just have eaten a book.

Just having chess books doesn't improve you. Reading a book doesn't improve you. You have to play out a chess book on a board, not just read it.

Most chess players read part of a book, then jump to another section without finishing that book. They go to another book and read something else that they like. So the books never get completely used properly. I have done that also.

IMHO

Different to what many have suggested, I think that studying many many games from past and current top level players is a great way to improve. Read through them, try and figure out what they are up to before you play further and/or read the annotations, and don't put too much effort into each game as by playing through many many games thoughtfully you will get a real feel for the patterns, plans, and positions that form the core of more advanced level knowledge. The ability to analyze is important and doing so systematically is recommended in many books, but having a feel for the game and what positons you do well in and enjoy is, in my opinion, just as important if not more so.

If you believe it, you are a dumb, fumbling, ignorant fool, oblivious of your weaknesses or needs of improvement, until a coach master will come along, who shakes you up and sets you free. That is, there is a prevailing wisdom that only a coach would know what you need, you of your own are akin of Baron von Munchausen trying to pull yourself out of the swamp by pulling on your own hair.

I don't use a coach myself, but I can see where having an knowledgeable outsider pinpoint your weaknesses could be a benefit.  It is very hard to be objective about yourself and not being able to see yourself through an experts eyes hardly means you are dumb, fumbling, ignorant fool.

I was sarcastically exaggerating for dramatic purposes...

lolo we have a lot of creative people on the forums, thats why I like to follow when nothing else is going on  +10

Another constructive book is " Chess Master vs Chess Amateur" Euwe-Meiden 

Sorry to sound like a dick but a 1200 doesn't have good tactics.

Sir de la Maza quit chess. Whatever else one can say about his method, it failed to cultivate an abiding interest in the game. My last OTB game was a victory against someone who has been rated higher than MDM's peak for the past five years. I am 500+ higher than I was when MDM wrote his book, and I love chess more than ever.

Exact calculation of a pawn ending was the key to victory. There's a snippet of the game at http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2012/02/pawn-wars.html

Work through each of the books in the manner suggested by uhohspaghettio. Start with Pandolfini's.

Don't despair.  I'm thinking of it as one anyway. 

So, Ziryab, what was your path to that 500 plus improvement? (BTW, I was shocked when I found a clip on youtube de la Maza teaching touchy-feely to lost corporate souls; obviously now he is a motvational guru)

It's a mixture of a lot of things, including lots of tactics, and repetition of these (the essence of MDM's method). Several days per week, I do ten or so problems with this http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2011/11/tactics-training-shredder-ipad-app.html (usually early morning). These are the quick and easy problems that I've been through before. Then I spend some time on other, harder problems. I study openings, endgames, planning, easy tactics, hard tactics. I use a broad mix of resources. I've described some of my study methods in detail on my blog: http://chessskill.blogspot.com/

Use the tag "resources for improvement" to sort through the mass (53 posts are so tagged).

A few Chess Informant electronic publications arrived yesterday. I did several of the endgames in CI 112 after installing them.

Thanks, Ziryab, this was helpful.

@ leavenfish's comment

He's a former expert with 20+ years of experience.  Of course books aimed at amateurs seem frivolous, and of course he can successfully wing openings on general knowledge alone.

That's why good players don't necessarily make good teachers.  He knows what works for him and his POV, but he can't see things from the perspective of a beginner anymore.

Inasmuch as I have no natural talent for chess, everything I know comes from books. I'm no expert, but I'm not a terrible player any more, neither. I continue studying because if I keep beating experts, I may soon become one even though I'm racing against the inevitable effects of age and the brain turning into marshmallows.

I met my goal of becoming Class A before turning 50, and crossed over 1900 before hitting 52. Perhaps, if Caissa favors my studies, I'll make 2200 before 60.

Good luck Ziryab, you may even heard about the "Chess Master at Any Age" by Rolf Wetzell, so being a master is not asking for too much.