They say there has been more books written about chess than any other game, and I believe it. What are your top 5 books? Either to study or just those related to chess culture / history?

Mine are:

1: Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman

Silman understood amateurs better than most top players, I think because he was "only" an IM, making him ever so slightly relatable, but also because he was willing to listen to his students in order to understand how they were thinking. Reading AM can be uncomfortable for many--The lyrics from "Killing Me Softly" come to mind,

"Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words"

He doesn't pull many punches nor have much sympathy for the lazy thinking of his acolytes, but he does make it very clear that one must form a plan based on the reality of the position in front of one's eyes, and not what one wished the position was, with repeated examples covering material, space, initiative, pawn structure, and other "imbalances", in what amounts to, in my opinion, a relatable and comprehensive introduction to middle game strategy.

2: Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman

Same author, and this book's a door stopper. No way the average player ever gets through it all. But the beauty is you don't have to, because Silman structures it from most fundamental to most esoteric, breaking the sections up by rating, and instructs students only to read up to their current level. Thanks to this book I learned the basics of king and pawn end games, including several facets of king opposition--diagonal, distant, which I retain to this day. Even if you only get through the first couple of sections you will have probably gotten your money's worth.

3: End Game (Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall) by Frank Brady.

Along with "Bobby Fischer Comes Home" by Helgi Olafsson was the inspiration behind me writing this a while back: #783270. Bobby Fischer fascinates me and I think even today casts a long shadow over the chess world. I'm not sure we've processed what Bobby, and what his short time at the top, meant for chess, or even society at large. That one man could take on an empire and win, coming from nowhere, rising so rapidity, and then fading away almost as quickly. A legend, an enigma, and well worth reading about in this well written book.

4: Logical Chess Move by Move by Irving Chernev

It's an old book and you'll here people trash it because modern engines have proven some of the analysis in the book unsound. But unless you're a super GM, it's likely that your opponents over at lichess or chess.com won't find the refutation in a blitz game, and if they do, hit "report". This book is a game collection which which presents really instructive e4 and d4 games. I credit it with teaching me how important it is to invoke pawn weakness in front of my opponent's king as well as how entire games can be fought over a single weak square. Unlike many game collections which brush over the basics, LCMBM is unique in that it annotates every single move. This can get a bit tedious, but it's great for newer players for whom nothing is obvious, and excessive, repetitive explanation is often welcome. For those curious, Nelson from Chess Vibes does a really good series going through the book chapter by chapter: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp7SLTJhX1u5NtFYAMisBhYON97_1nh_B&si=k18tOCKqu_HWL3Lp

5: Back to basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman

Heisman is one of the few master level instructors who bothers to teach "counting" as he calls it. By which he doesn't mean material count, but rather the number and type of attackers or defenders on a weak piece, pawn or square. This should be simple but it's a source of frequent blunders and frustration. (raging at how dumb you are because you seemingly can't count to 3. Sound familiar?). There are nuances to it too--have enough defenders do you? Well your lead defender is a queen and your opponent doesn't have to recapture mid-way through the sequence. Congratulations you are now down material. Or, I hoped you also counted discovered or tactical defenses in your counting, right? Oh you missed that your piece could be pinned by the rook? Too bad I guess you failed to count again. Heisman understands this and has a bunch of exercises covering the particular nuances of counting, so I highly recommend this as a first tactics book to any beginner.

What are some of your favorite chess books?