Last week, I took out two books from the library and am almost done with the first. It's called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess Openings, by William Aramil. So far it's decent. The first few chapters were especially good for me as they go over algebraic notation and some very basic strategy principles. Concepts like material, space, tempo, King protection, and Pawn structure are introduced, and this is a very good thing for beginners. These five things are the building blocks of what makes a good board setup, and something that absolutely every budding chess player needs to be aware of.
However, these subjects are only briefly introduced and there isn't much space given to them--a couple paragraphs at most. It's pretty much assumed that the reader is already familiar with them, which is fine, but this makes me think that the book is not really geared toward the beginner, but rather someone who has already seen some moderate success.
After that, the most common openings are explained in good detail. For the beginner, this is great, but parts can be confusing because Aramil relies greatly on algebraic notation. There are several diagrams of board setups, but to really get the most out of this book, you will want to have a chess board handy so you can fully appreciate the various structures and their nuances.
If you're new to chess, this book can help you, but I wouldn't recommend this being your first read. I'm going to finish the book, but I think I will need to reread it in a few weeks.
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