Need Book Suggestions

A few weeks ago I posted saying over several years my rating has slipped on this site from over 1600 down to a little over 1400. I was all set to enter some tournaments until I realized I'd proabablu make the same mistakes again.

So I have decided to take a month or more off and read or re read some books.

Any suggestions? Please don't suggest My System. I ave tried that book and found it too hard.

I for one won't suggest any of Silman's books. Until the OP learns to not drop pieces left and right, Silman's books are useless to him.

In Post #15 of this recent thread, http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/help-im-going-downhill , I made two suggestions. The OP stated that he'd work on Suggestion 1 but said nothing about working on Suggestion 2. My mistake was in making two suggestions. Suggestion 2 was critically important; Suggestion 1 was of minor importance.

So my recommendation to the OP is to work on Suggestion 2. The OP will never get any better until he does so. (I know, these are harsh words, but I think they're necessary.)

OK, I'm a nobody, and why should the OP pay any attention to my suggestion? Fair enough.

I really think at this point the OP would be better off to contact Dan Heisman and pay for a single lesson from Dan. Yes, it won't be cheap, but I feel confident that Dan could help him address the piece-dropping issue. Of course, I'm fairly confident that Dan will just reiterate what I suggested, but at least it would be coming from a renowned chess instructor.

Yasser Seiriwan's "Winning Chess Tactics" and "Winning Chess Strategies" (You can skip the rest of them by him).

EschereschE, I want to address my piece dropping issue. I know it is bad. Is there a book by Dan that would help me?

+1 for both of these.

Tactical pattern memory banks.  Work them, buy Convekta software like CT-ART 5.0 and do the beginner one in the package first.  If you see a sale then grab one of the packages, especially Total Chess Training IV which includes Simple Defense (teaches you to protect hanging pieces).  Chess Combinations for Club Players and Attack on the King will be great to study too. 

A good book about study chess in general is andrew soltis "how to study chess", highly recommended

Sure, but you can probably get the same information from Dan's Novice Nook articles and Thinking Cap articles. (There's no reason to buy the books, other than the fact that they're good books. )

I don't know if your problem is playing hope chess or not counting correctly. (It has to be one of the two, or maybe even both.)

For the counting issue, just start here, and it will lead you to the applicable Novice Nook articles:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/counting-vs-counting-material

(Dan also discusses counting in his Back to Basics: Tactics book.)

For the hope chess/real chess issue, you could try these two Novice Nook articles:

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/real.pdf
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman10.pdf

Also related to hope chess is Part 4 of Dan's Thinking Cap series (The 3 Levels of Chess), which is discussed in Dan's book, Looking for Trouble. (Part 5 also might be of interest to you.) Also, I think all ten of the Thinking Cap articles are discussed in Dan's book, The Improving Chess Thinker.

Unfortunately, Dan's link to the Thinking Cap articles is broken. However, for anyone wanting all ten articles, they're still accessible via the Internet Archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511202059/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040403_thinking_cap.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511202103/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040501_thinking_cap.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511203604/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040528_part3.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120708023706/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040703_part_4.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511202640/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040731_part_5.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511202735/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040731_part_6.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511202629/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/041001_what_makes_better_,move.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511203029/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040703_part_8.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511203620/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040501_thinking_cap_9.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20120511201731/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_thinking_cap/040501_thinking_cap_10.html

Very Simple.  150 pages.  Paul Littlewood, Chess Tactics, (1984).

15 chapters, all bite-sized exercises for making your opponents DROP their pieces.  

And skip the "data dumps" above.  Yikes.

Seirawan's tactics book (above) is also good, but he's more advanced.

just to be different....

Attack & Counter Attack in Chess (by fred reinfeld)

its so old, it still uses the old non-algebraic chess notation! :p but its one gem of a book, and its lessons have stood the test of time! short and clear explanation of concepts and lots of illustrative, complete, and well annotated games.  it is targetted for improvers who are starting to get interested in extending their studies beyond the opening (and i did improve a lot with this book).  i love this book so much, i own two copies! :D

I'll second Escher's Novice Nook and Heisman's Improving Chess Thinker is a great assessment tool.  Just do the positions seriously!  They aren't necessarily your side to play and win problems.  Treat them like a real game position.  Then compare notes with Heisman's students whose protocols are in their respective sections (so a 1850 USCF student of Heisman's would be under class A) Make sure you spend 20 minutes at most on a position (you're supposed to write or type down your thoughts)

My System by Aron Nimzowitsch.

Littlewood's book is probably a very good tactics book, but from what I can tell by looking at the table of contents, it doesn't seem to address the most basic tactic of counting, which is probably of critical importance in this case. Also, it doesn't address the critical need of playing real chess instead of hope chess.

So in this case, these "data dumps", as you call them, are far more important than another conventional tactics book. Studying tactics does you no good if you leave pieces en prise because you're not looking for checks, captures, and threats, or if you're not adequately protecting your pieces due to inadequate or nonexistent counting.

BTW, the "data dumps" look worse than they really are. The only Thinking Cap articles that the OP really needs is #4, and maybe #5. I only included the others for completeness.

...the "little book of patience" as seen in "black's books" british television.

( DANGER THERE MISTER REDMOUSE, YOU GIVE AWAY TOO MUCH HUMOR TO THOSE WHO WANTED TO READ ABOUT DRY CHESS MATIERIAL ! )

You're an idiot.  Read the last line of the original post, fool!

...unkindness is easy...

...humour, in all it's light and darkness ( sometimes quite dark ) is the better reply when you think something is not correct...

...it may not change the opinion of the poster but may amuse thyself and another...