What chess books do you like sheerly because they are enjoyable to read, if not necessarily instructional in nature? I love the Edward Winter books -- Kings, Commoners and Knaves and Chess Explorations, the Chess Addict books, anything by Tal or Bronstein, and CJS Purdy's Search for Chess Perfection. How about you?

I, too, love the Edward Winter books -- Kings, Commoners and Knaves and Chess Explorations. Additionally, I always find time spent perusing John J. Watkins Across the Board, The Mathematics of Chessboard Problems quite enjoyable. Of course, Hans Ree's The Human Comedy of Chess, A Grandmaster's Chronicles is very entertaining and informative.

I generally am entertained my most of Samuel Reshevsky's books.

But, for me, nothing compares with reading old issues of Chess Digest, or even reading one of their old catalogs. Whenever I read either, I almost hear Ken Smith reciting what I'm reading. Actually, I thought of him when reading one of zazen's other posts! LOL

Also the works of Harry Golombek...

Im currently reading Winter's Capablanca which is very enjoyable, and may be instructional, but since I read at the end of the day after a few beers, I skip the games.

I also enjoyed Chess B**ch by Jennifer Shahade but imagine this message will now be censored and I'll be warned about my language because, "Won't someone think of the children?"

Alex Dunne: 2010: Chess Oddities

I like Finding Bobby Fischer by Jan Ten Geuzendam. A very interesting collection that has some of Ten Geuzendam's interviews.

I also like The 100 Best Games of the 20th Century by Andrew Soltis. This is a fun book with a lot of fun games.

Fun book to read is 101 Chess Opening Surprises , Graham Burgess
And the most enjoyable book for me really is the Art Of Attack by Vladimir Vukovic, who doesnt love attacking and playing through some great games???

I've always liked the Lewis Carroll classics "Alice in Wonderland" and it's chess related sequel "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There".

I've never really read chess books that I don't think will help me improve my game. I have "Chess Don" by Don Schultz, because he was giving out and autographing copies for free at a couple of local tournaments I attended (we both live in Florida), but I've never gotten around to reading it.

However, I enjoy studing chess to improve. To me, going through a book of tactical puzzles is fun, so much so that I sometimes study chess more than I play it, which has probably slowed my improvement.

The closest I come to just reading chess for fun that won't help my game at all is probably the time I spend reading internet articles and forums on chess.

--Fromper

Hi Fegary, just put Golombek's book of Reti's Best Games on eBay. It's a first edition from 1954, and Golombek's memoirs and annotations are excellent.

Hi Zazen,

Winter generates a lot of controversy as well, leading to some pretty vitriolic disputes with certain other chess writers.

Has anyone read any of Donner's articles?

p.s. thanks for your info on SCID and Iconfy.. I'll be checking them out.