Book suggestions

[Actorios]

I'm 6k KGS and I didn't manage to go through the full Elementary Go Serie still.
I therefore think this serie is incredibly meaty and you could improve and learn from just re-reading it, taking your time. Some books which were over my head when I started now sound readable. I think you unveil understanding capabilities as you improve your reading skill.

To get back to your question, I recommend as well The Graded Go Problems for Beginners serie as well as any other problem book of your level. Those will improve your reading skill which is the main driver to get stronger.
The more I buy go books (and I've bought quite a few), the more I believe the basic books can be sufficient for a long time. If you get let's say all the problems in "Tesuji" right when you solve them, then maybe you need to get to something else to read... Personnally, I'm miles away from there.

[cdybeijing]

I come from a chess background. I completely understand the impulse of wanting to read strategy books compulsively.

I've been learning go for 9 months and I am about 3k. Under the guidance of many strong players, I have resisted the impulse to read and read and read books. Here's what I have done so far which I think echos what some players stronger than I are suggesting as valuable steps:

1. Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go (1st read)
2. Opening Theory Made Easy (maybe not the most efficient way, but a great book for beginners)
3. Attack and Defence
4. Lessons in the Fundaments of Go (2nd read)
5. Life and Death (1st half of the book)
6. Get Strong at Tesuji / Tesuji

Now, I do nothing but alternate Tesuji and Life and Death problems, focusing on problems I can solve in 2 minutes or less. I'm convinced there's no better way to spend my study time. Also, review every game you play.

[karaklis]

Thanks for mentioning. This fits best to me. Joseki und Fuseki is over my head (except for some very basic things of course), I feel reluctant to learn, because I cannot memorize. With tesuji and L&D it's different. I can scale their difficulty just according to my needs. There are still tons of tesuji and L&D problems on my shelf, and every evening when I want to go to bed, they are calling "c'mon, read me, solve me, learn me!", even the new one's ('200 Endgame Problems' and 'Magic of Placement'). It's so tempting

Is there a special way you learn tesuji?

[cdybeijing]

Thanks for mentioning. This fits best to me. Joseki und Fuseki is over my head (except for some very basic things of course), I feel reluctant to learn, because I cannot memorize. With tesuji and L&D it's different. I can scale their difficulty just according to my needs. There are still tons of tesuji and L&D problems on my shelf, and every evening when I want to go to bed, they are calling "c'mon, read me, solve me, learn me!", even the new one's ('200 Endgame Problems' and 'Magic of Placement'). It's so tempting

Is there a special way you learn tesuji?

Not really. I don't like to labor over them too much, so I try to work with problems I can do in a couple minutes or less. I'm currently going through Get Strong at Tesuji and do about 15 problems each way on my 30 minute commute to work.

Based on the advice of some strong players I know, I'm also starting to do a few harder life and death problems that force me to read sequences out completely and hold longer and longer variations in my head. I personally like working with books that have a semi-random order i.e. not 10 problems in a row of the same tesuji or placement.

I think the important thing is that you have to enjoy doing them.

[Hushfield]

I would purchase and read all of the following before anything on your list:

8. Problem collections
Graded Go Problems for Beginners vol. 2
Graded Go Problems for Beginners vol. 3
Graded Go Problems for Beginners vol. 4
1001 Life and Death Problems
Get Strong at Tesuji

This will improve your play more than anything you listed.

This. Anything that requires you to read out a lot of sequences by yourself. And try not to look at the answers. Also, throw in (see what I did there?) Kageyama's Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go, and continue to re-read Davies' Life and Death and Tesuji. I strongly believe that for a non-dan amateur to improve his game what is needed above all else are a strong grasp of some fundamental principles (e.g. cutting and connecting) and confidence acquired through tons of reading (sequences, that is: doing tsumego).

Edit: After I posted this I read the following in another thread:

One can have a pro-level opening for the first 20 moves, but if one cannot read or fight well, one can still be stuck at kyu levels

So there you have it. Buy and read more problem books.

[cdybeijing]

A consensus seems to be emerging.