Books to read without a chess set

With most chess books, you need a chess set (or computer) to follow the moves on, if you want to get any real value out of them. But a few of them can be followed without a chess set, because they have so many diagrams. I find this very helpful, as I only find time to read on the train or in bed, neither of which are great places to push pieces around a board.

Can anybody recommend books which meet this criterion? My own pick would be Andrew Soltis' "How to Choose a Chess Move". You can read this without a set, because it focuses on specific positions, rather than whole games, and therefore the initial diagram is usually enough. And where the lines do get deep, he adds a new diagram.

Pandolfini's endgame course.

"how to reassess your chess workbook" by silman.

The Amateur's Mind by Silman also works well without a board.

Any book that consists of middlegame puzzles.

"Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess." Warning: for the beginner.

Question about Andrew Soltis' "How to Choose a Chess Move": Is this a good book? This is what I am always up against in games: Just how do I best go about thinking about this position and choosing my next move? Any book recommendations that answer this question would also be helpful. Thanks.

Originally posted by basso
"Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess." Warning: for the beginner.

Question about Andrew Soltis' "How to Choose a Chess Move": Is this a good book? This is what I am always up against in games: Just how do I best go about thinking about this position and choosing my next move? Any book recommendations that answer this question would also be helpful. Thanks.

I'd recommend kotov's "think like a grandmaster", which emphasizes on the thinking process as in the title, but it's more about how to handle variations.

again, silmans "how to reassess your chess" has a page or two where it lists the recommended steps when it's your turn to move.

edit: actually since it's not even a whole page, I thought it might be misleading to recommend that book for only that purpose. here's the whole part:

1)figure out the positive and negative imbalances for both sides.

2)figure out the side of the board you wish to play on. you can only play where a favorable imbalance or the possibility of creating a favorable imbalance exists.

3)don't calculate! instead, dream up various fantasy positions, i.e, the positions you would most like to achieve.

4)once you find a fantasy position that makes you happy, you must figure out if you can reach it. if you find that your choice was not possible to implement, you must create another dream position that is easier to achieve.

5)only now do you look at the moves you wish to calculate (called candidate moves). The candidate moves are all the moves that lead to our dream position.

"How to choose a chess move" is very good, IMHO. It's very practical, e.g. discussing when to calculate and when you don't need to. Also very revealing about how GMs really go about assessing the position, often breaking the supposed rule about not jumping back and forth.

I also have the Kotov book that was recommended by diskamyl - presumably he/she wasn't recommending this as a book you can read without a chess set to hand (the original point of the thread) - it's certainly not that - but only to answer Basso's question about books on assessing a position. It's very hard going. I'm sure it rewards those who put the effort in to really work through it, but personally I found I didn't have the discipline for it. The Soltis book is much more accessible. I would go for that first and if you find it a bit lightweight, or you fancy a bigger challenge, maybe progress to Kotov.

Originally posted by d36366
I also have the Kotov book that was recommended by diskamyl - presumably he/she wasn't recommending this as a book you can read without a chess set to hand (the original point of the thread) - it's certainly not that - but only to answer Basso's question about books on assessing a position.

certainly right, I wasn't responding to the original thread. kotov's book is probably one of the books out there where you need the chess set most.

Originally posted by zebano
Pandolfini's endgame course.

Yeah that is a nice book, it helped me with my endgame and pawn structure a lot.

Are we talking about the same book?? Pandolfinis endgame course has nothing to do with pawn structure.

Catch 22

Originally posted by Sam The Sham
Catch 22

You got there before me!

Edit: Duly recc'd.

Originally posted by bikingviking
Are we talking about the same book?? Pandolfinis endgame course has nothing to do with pawn structure.

Sorry I said that wrong, I meant pawn endgames.

i sorta like books