Silman's books...

You can live without them, or read them in whichever order you fancy, although starting with the Amateur's mind is probably more beneficial because it adresses one of the keypoints of chess strength - ie. the thinking process.

Thanks for the answers. 

What about the "errors" in the older books?  

Should I just read the explanations and bullet points to get the "ideas", but avoid playing through the variations?  

Or should I just read and play the lines in these books, even though engines refute many of the given lines?  

I do play through every single example, because (for me) that's the best way to understand the point the author is trying to make in each section. Engines refuting a line don't detract from what is being explained in a section, as the examples are only there to illustrate an idea. I've never tried analysing the examples on a computer... it takes me long enough to get through each chapter already :)

So 3 out of 3 are in favor of reading Amateur's Mind and Reassess Your Chess Workbook in spite of the analytical errors and in spite of the fact that HTRYC 4th ed is bigger, badder ("badder" meaning gooder), and better than anything ever.  Thanks again for the responses. 

When I started chess, some 20 years ago, I only read Sierawans books. His Strategy book and his tactic book Was all I needed to reach a 1700 consistant rating. I do not like Silmans books. I liked Sierawans much better. When ever possible it is best to read a GMs book ( who can teach) That way you get to see how the GMs think..After reading Sierawans tactic training and Strategy books I then moved to his end game book which put me to the 1900+ level. Shame that I stopped playing for almost 20 years. I was able to reach 1900+ level in less than two years, cause I did the right thing and learned from one of the best chess coaches around. I also liked his books cause he has great humor which kept me well entertained threw some Hard to understand moments  also his positive input instead of negatives I get from silmans wrighting. Check out "Winning Chess Strategies" by Yasser Seirawan. It is by far the best book to read IMO for leading you to the next level. Winning Chess Tactics is the next ...Now It says that Silman helped with these but you can definitely tell that Seirawan is the leader

Jesus, no.

The workbook and HTRYC are pretty much interchangeable, just using two different methodologies.

"How to" gives lots and lots of explanation of concepts, and then gives relatively few problems to help you test/build your knowledge.

"Workbook" gives brief, Cliff's Notes versions of the same concepts, and then gives boatloads of problems.

I see no value whatsoever in reading "Workbook" as a prereq.  Use it as a source of additional problems if what you get in "How to" doesn't slake your thirst.  Or use it instead of "How to" if you're not big on prose and prefer to just dive into the concepts head first.

"Amateur's Mind" isn't really a prerequisite, either.  It's a beginning look at strategy, so it makes sense in some ways, but no more sense than any other introductory look at strategy would.  The Seirawan books, or one of the video series that are out there, or one of the old-school classics...any of these would be adequate substitutes.  Or just jump into "How to."  I have trouble believing anybody who is capable of getting anything from "Amateur's Mind" would be overwhelmed by what they find in "How to."

In Silmans book Amateur mind. I don't need to know how an amateur looks at the board. I need to know how a master looks at it. All Silman does in that book is analyse or plays an amateur then mocks him and tells pretty much how dumb someone is. Instead Books such as Winning chess Strategies jumps right in and shows you how you should think. Silmans books are a waste of time for me and I would love to sale you mine at a discount if you like. I already know how the amateur thinks. These books set me back a little in my chess learning

How to Reasses your chess is ok for like the first bit.. then you realize you don't need a whole book to tell you how to think. Just learn about imbalances from the book and then sit it down cause there is plenty of better reads out there...The book Winning Chess Strategies covers all these areas and more with just 240 pages to read..Thats not bad  Here is a list of contents

1. The importance of Strategy

2.Making the most of a material Advantage

3.Stopping the enemy Counterplay

4.understanding where the pieces go

5.Superior minor pieces

6.how to use pawns

7.the creation of targets

8.territorial domination

9.attacking the king

10.faulty strategies

11.the great masters of strategy

eleven is a some great annotated games

if what your looking for is a thought process then  amateur's mind is probably best. 

I would recommend Gooten's Chess strategy for club players though as its more inclusive.

@chai97...I was able to achieve a 1700 rank from just Yasser Seirawan's books.That was some time back before they had ChessBase.Amateur's mind is not the best as it just shows you the thought process of an Amateur.It is best to acquire the correct process from listening to the right process to begin with. You don't need to know how an amateur thinks..your already one! So learn how the masters think so you can just emulate that.Yasser's book is spectacular at doing this.It will change your life! It has plenty of diagrams.I have never read any of Irving's book so I couldn't tell you about it,but I have read Amateur's mind,about half of it before I got bored,and I can say with confidence that it is not that great.

I used to use Sillman's books as teaching aides and I find that it doesn't really matter what book you start with so long as you can dedicate the time to really absorb it.

Seïrawan's book would be my choice

It doesn't matter how he spells it, the accent on the "i" is not really that important. A lot of people don't know how to use the alt codes to make the symbol.

Irving Chernev's book Logical Chess is a gem, period. It is where I started and I still like to go back to it regularly. I have bought quite a few books on chess since my first book which was the aforementioned, and they are gone and Chernev's sits there on my shelf, now a bit worse for wear but still my favorite in many ways.

I've found a new book that I believe will hold good promise. In particular it addresses the need expressed in some of the posts above to learn how a grandmaster thinks. This book is appropriately enough entitled Lessons with a Grandmaster, by GM Boris Gulko (w/ Joel Sneed). Sneed is the amateur learning  how the master thinks. It's very new being copyrighted 2011.

I would echo what's been said re: Seirawan vs. Silman. I much prefer the former. Silman's character defects do get in the way from time to time. (As do my own ).

I've always wondered how much of the "Winning Chess" books Silman actually wrote. They're authored by Yasser Seirawan with Jeremy Silman.

Edit: Looks like the original Microsoft versions of the books didn't include Silman as an author, so maybe he just did some work for the Everyman Chess edition.

Both Amateur's mind and "Reassess your chess" are very superficial with examples that are not carefully selected.

Do yourself a favor , find better books.Otherwise you will wonder in 2 years  why you study so much and you improve so slow. 

If you want to improve  Seirawan's books are certainly good but find the 3 books of Pachman ("Complete Chess Strategy") too.Very carefully selected examples and very good explanation  and analysis of all the important concepts of middlegame.