I don't think you ever do finish reading a good chess book.
You keep it to dip back into it to play over a game that you like
or look up a piece of chess trivia or check an opening variation etc.
It's why chess players build up, often quite unintentionally,
huge collections of chess books.
You never finish listening to a CD. If you like it you play it again and again.
(and again and again and again if it's The Beatles).
In that thread I'm on my Beatles kick again.
My post reads:
It's not like a novel where you give it away once you have read it.
I've read only a few books more than once, Treasure Island and Catch-22
come to mind.
But a good chess book is like a Beatles LP*. You go back every now and then
to play over again a game you like, to hear the music.
Also as you get better and your understadning of the game develops you will see
things (hear things) you never noticed before.
Never lend out chess books, you won't see them again.
*LP. it's a large round plastic disc with hole in the middle. Often called a record.
In the olden days we stored our music on these discs and listened to them
via record player.
Never lend out LP's, you won't see them again.
GP34 is right. You don't really ever finish the book. I catch myself looking up old games
quite often, whenever I think I see something... (note "Think I see"😉 as that is usually
how it starts... Then 2-3 hours consume you while you find everything but what you
were looking for...
The first pass on a book may be what you meen? Thats a tricky question; its all about
how much time you study. It also depends on the way you study. It would seem that
you would finish a Chess book faster if you do the puzzles, positions, and solve each
problem only once. Many times this is not the case; Sometimes you have to do parts
of a book many many many times to build up for the next chapter (if its separated as
such). Other times, you'll find yourself needing to reference other material, just to
continue on.
In any event, the time is a dependent variable. The time spent depends on the
amount of work your willing to do. If your willing to work very hard, then its very
worthwhile to organize your study, and organize your materials in order to maximize
your time. This will naturally speed progression, but once again, its still the same
amount of work.
The real question is "How much work does it take to finish a chess book?"
🙂
-GIN