TOP TEN Chess Books for your desert island vacation

i misread, yes he makes crazy videos on youtube

#1 Lasker's Manual of Chess by Emmanuel lasker

#2 The Art of the Endgame by Jan Timman

#3 1000 Checkmate Combinations by Mikhail Tal and Henekin

#4 Averbackh's Chess Tactics for Advanced Players by Yuri Averbakh

#5 Tal Botvinnik 1960 by Mikhail Tal

#6 Domination in 2,545 Endgame Studies by Ghenrikh Kasparyan

#7 Bent Larsens Best Games of Chess Master of Counter Attack by Bent Larsen

#8 My Fifty years of Chess by Frank J.Marshall

#9 Tigran Petroisan his life and games by Vik.L.Vasiliev

#10 How Karpov wins by Edmar Mednis

Can you provide some examples of it being outdated by 2008, the copyright date? Now, I'll admit my copy of MCO-X © 1965 is just a wee bit outdated (but still useful for antiquated openings such as the Fried Liver Attack for instance). However I still find MCO-15 handy for assessments and evaluations of the small fraction of opening lines it covers

Sure it was, but we're talking about a desert island book (see title) where there is presumably no internet, no electricity and no computers, or is that an unfair assumption?.  Today, most of us get openings from computer databases which are updated constantly.  Since there are no other more up to date resources on openings in print and we are limiting suggestions to just 10 books, I think it is appropriate to include.

would be funny though if you were alone on an island and all you had was the chess book how not to play chess.

I presume you mean this one below, if so I wouldn't be amused. I'd much rather have a middlegame or general strategy book by Kotov or Euwe - or a non-chess book instead, such as The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

Combinative Motifs

Basic Chess Endings

Think like a Grandmaster

My Great Predecessors

Your set to go, thats enough to occupy a long time.

1. Fireside Book of Chess - Chernev

2. The Personality of Chess - Horowitz and Rosenberg

3. Alekhine's Best Games, Vol. 1 and 2 - Alekhine

4. Zurich '53 - Bronstein

5. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal - Tal

6. Fire On Board - Shirov

7. Hastings 1985 - Various Commentators

8. New York 1924 - Alekhine

9. My 60 Memorable Games - Fischer

10. Botvinnik's Best Games: 1925-1941 - Botvinnik

1. Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual

2. MCO 15

3. Best of the Best (chess informant)

4. Mammoth Book of World's Greatest Chess Games

5. Combinative Motifs by Blokh

6. Soviet Middlegame Technique by Romanovsky

7 - 9. Botvinnik's Best Games Vol. 1-3

10. Understanding Chess Tactics by Weteschnik

Why would anyone want to take MCO-15 to a desert island? 

Don't know about anyone else, but in my case it would be because in one book it contains a lot of positions to study from the transition between opening and middlegame, plus if I ever wanted to look at an opening. It was something Soltis mentioned once as good source material for positions to practice analysis and evaluation.

It really depends on how long your "vacation" is.  If only a week or two, you don't need but one or two books and wouldn't finish them anyway.  If "vacation" is a metaphor for an indeterminate length of time with no planned return, then the answer is quite different.  Personally, I think "desert island vacation" is an oxymoron.

nah you could easily finish 2 puzzle books though

but 2 weeks desert island would be pretty cool right now

Top 10 desert island books = Top 10 chess book recommendations for improvement  OR  = Top 10 chess books for enjoyment/entertainment OR =................. =..............etc...

Of course we all know what is meant by "desert island books".

In no specific order: 

          1. The Road to Chess Improvement (Yermolinsky)

          2. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal (Tal)

           3. Zurich 1953 (Bronstein)

           4. Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual (Dvoretsky)

           5. Fireside Book of Chess (Chernev)

           6. How to Reasses your Chess (Silman)

           7. Master the grand art of Chess Calculation (Friend)

           8. 100 Selected games (Botvinnik)

           9. Lasker's Manual of Chess (Lasker)

          10. Chess Gems (Sukhin).

Whith chess improvement in mind I would choose:

1. Endgame Strategy (Shereshevsky)
2. Amateur to IM (Hawkins)
3. Dvoretsky's endgame manual
4. Chess Tactics for Advanced players (Averback)
5. Winning Chess Middlegames (Sokolov)
6. Zurich 1953 (Bronstein)
7. Dynamics of Chess Strategy (Jansa)
8. Life and games of Mikhael Tal
9. game collection book of your favourite player
10. Critical moments in chess (Gaprindashvili)

And of course don't forget a chess board and pieces