A.J. Goldsby I "A.J.G is a U.S. master, and wrote a "review" of Botvinnik's book on Amazon.com.
The reviews on Am.com are not really reviews. Anyone who makes a purchase on Amazon.com is requested to write a short review of the product, or the seller. EBAY practically does the same thing.
100 Selected Games by Botvinnik, I am not sure of the exact date of the original publication. Possibly in the late 40's or early 50's in Russian.
The English version is unclear. The Dover book I believe came out in the early 60's, probably priced at $1.25.
What the book is about:
Obviously 100 selected Botvinnik games.
Chessgames by Botvinnik from various Russian Tournaments.
A sim. game, the teenage Botvinnik against a World Champion Capablanca.
Games against familiar players of the 30's & 40's, Euwe, Keres, Capablanca, and Flohr. The Flohr game probably came out of a Russian Match book by Botvinnik. Botvinnik played a World class player named Salo Flohr.
At the time of the indicated games in the book, the Soviet Union was not a chess power. Botvinnik was the main Soviet player. There are several games against Western Players. Note that Alekhine wrote a book on the 1936 Nottingham which is still available, and recently reprinted. At Nottingham Alekhine, Euwe (World Champion), Capablanca, and upcoming younger generation, Reshevsky, Keres, and Fine. Botvinnik did not finish first.
A.J. Goldsby I A.J.G indicated that the Opening lines in the book are dated.
That is obvious.
The book has value but probably not for a lower end player.
You have to understand the audience that the book was written for.
Originally for Soviet players.
The Dover edition (in the 60's) probably got an American Chess audience because Reinfeld was a Botvinnik fan. Reinfeld wrote a book on Botvinnik games, as he did on Lasker, Tarrasch, Keres (several books), and edited a book by Reshevsky or so many believe.
The audience for 100 Selected Games is for Intermediate players and up.
You should have deep understanding of positional play.
I first read the book, when I was around 18 years old, (my first paycheck from my summer job should have been made payable to Dover, since I bought a collection of chess books. Five bucks at the time got you four classic chess books).
At the time I was under the belief that Botvinnik got real deep in the position.
When his pawns were placed on certain squares, it appeared as if he was sensing what the endgame would look like.
Pachman wrote a book on the middlegame, (another Dover book) and drew a game out of "100 Selected Games", and went deep into the annotations.
Botvinnik once wrote that when analyzing at home, you can touch the pieces, and move them back and forth. Similar to Nimzovitch's advice, when playing over games use two sets. One as in the game, the other to analyze.
What is quite good about the book after 47 years is that it is about what chess was without a silicon helper. The game played was about preparation, Openings, Middle Game and Endings. Day and night study. Plans written in notebooks, or index cards. All 100% your own brain power.
Note that Reuben Fine wrote BCE (Basic Chess Endings) in 1941. Botvinnik at the time carried BCE around with him in preparing for Tournaments.
When going over a game play it 2 or 3 times. Just do not make the moves. Evaluate the position, and ask why that move.
Figure out what plan Botvinnik had in mind.

The use of *deleted by moderator* and the following comments are not appropriate to say to anyone. If you have a disagreement with the post, either say what you disagree with in polite terms, or say nothing at all.

Do not use terms like that in here. Such words, abbreviated or otherwise are not allowed here which you might gather from the rules.

Come with arguments, please, not colourful phrases.

i have ebooks on capablanca and alekhine, that you may well check yourself. anyway, chernev's book on capa's endings is excellent, very instructive. my email is quaoar_machine@yahoo.com, in case you're interested in the ebooks, i'll send them to you thru email.

Game collections by famous masters are not written with an emphasis on verbal explanations because they are not instructional books so I don’t think it’s likely you will find a game collection such as you are looking for. At least I’ve never seen one. They tend to assume their readers are strong enough to understand why when they say, “White stands better.”

That said, when I was rated about 1600-1700 “100 Selected Games” by Botvinnik and “Reshevsky on Chess” got the covers worn off them and I think I learned a lot from just playing over the games.

To learn from these types of games requires more than just playing over the moves as a spectator. You have to actively participate by conducting your own search for moves and forming you own judgments. When you see a simple note in these books you will often have to invest substantial study time trying to make sense of it using knowledge you have gained from studying other material.

Using an engine can help, but they will only show you missed tactics and will not explain plans or why one move is better than another. Also be aware engine evaluations are not worth much…they place too much emphasis on material.

Two books that explain how to study are “The Road to Chess Improvement” by Yermolinsky and “Practical Chess Analysis” by Mark Buckley. They tell you how to study published games and conduct you own analysis, but be advised they do not offer any secrets that will make you a better player…they advocate hard work but at least show you how the masters do it.

Unfortunately Buckley's book is out of print, and used copies seem to be fairly expensive.

Edit: Just corresponded with Bob Long of Thinkers Press, and he plans to do another printing of Buckley's book this year.

@Malbase

A very comprehensive list!

However, one series that covers Capablanca's and Botvinnik's career very well is Kasparov's 'My Great Predecessors I' and 'MGP II'. However, I should warn you in advance that the analysis of the games is quite dense, although it certainly rewards study.