Help reading Beginners Openings Book

Hello, I’m 36, been “playing” chess since I was 10 but only this year have decided to really try and get good. I’ve been reading beginner books and recently have started readings Emms’s Discovering Chess Openings. For the most part it’s is a great book, but there are times when is gets HEAVY into notation (particularly discussing an alternative line). How is a beginner advised to approach a book like this? Do I read for content and broad ideas and then comeback later once that is easier to follow? (Does it ever become easier to follow?). Do I just take it real slow and play with a board in front of me? I would love advice. 

A board in front of you?  No, you need two.  One for the main line and another for variants.  I use a regular board and pieces for the main line and a smaller portable magnetic board (glued and doweled permanently open) for the alternative lines.  And I have a third 'just in case" board at the ready.  Sometimes I need to transfer the main line to one of the smaller boards if I plan to really get into the variations and spend some quality time on the main board.  Of course that's me; I hate getting lost in a book.  You may well be able to get by with less or perhaps go digital with a laptop/tablet/smartphone combination.  I'm sure you'll figure out something that works for you.

I don't know anything about this book, but in essence, you shouldn't try to memorize opening lines on your level. If the book just offers specific opening lines, that is most likely above you current level.

You should choose some variation, memorize first 3-5 moves, and then you should follow the opening principles. Memorizing will not help you that much on that level because you do not really understand why a certain move was played, and second because your opponents will not follow the main line, they will mostly play something offbeat very early in the game and you will be on your own.

After you get a lot stronger by studying other parts of chess - doing tactical puzzles, learning about some basic positional concepts and studying the endgame, you can get back to that book if you wish.

Here is a bit more on opening principles and how to play the opening:

https://www.chess.com/blog/nklristic/surviving-the-opening-first-steps-to-chess-improvement

If you need some help on how to learn about chess in general I've written about that as well. But I don't want to be off topic if you don't need/want that.  So if you do, state it in the next message.

In any case, good luck improving your game.

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

Emms' "Discovering Chess Openings" is an excellent book that is 100% focused on opening principles, and its content is very much in line with what you advocate for beginners.  About halfway through, it starts to look at popular openings with an eye toward explaining how they embody opening principles, but it would be very hard to read the book and come away with the idea that a beginner should be memorizing opening lines.

Edit:  What I love about that book is how it explains why those principles you list in your blog post are important.  I think if you took a look at this book you'd end up recommending it too.

Also, to the OP:  The chess.com analysis board is the way to go, but you should know that the fully-featured version is only available on the web version of the site, not mobile.  You can either view chess.com in your mobile browser, or consider using the app by a very similar free site that I don't think I'm allowed to mention by name here, but which does support their analysis board.   A real chess board is also a good alternative.

It's really worth figuring out a way that works for you to explore those notation-heavy sections of books, because for most chess books, that's where the real learning happens.  As you spend more time reading books like this you'll get more used to the notation.

Well he talked mostly about concrete lines, that is why I said what I said. Anyway if that is the case - learning opening principles with examples, that is great. 

@OP In any case, don't try to memorize exact moves, the general idea on how to play the opening stage is very important at your level, and will be helpful all the time. The only thing that will change later on is that you will understand better when it is ok to break a principle or 2 and when it is not.

It sounds great.

Just got the book last week as well, and I second this. I have one board currently tied into a correspondence game so I've got used to having my phone with me when I read the book and then can quickly run through the lines as he describes them.

It's also really reassuring to know it's not just me that struggles mentally picturing the board and the moves. Feel like the classic scene in the Matrix where they're looking at the screen of scrolling text and everybody's watching it going "ooff, ouch, wow!"

That looks amazing

Wow. Thanks all. This was first post here and you’ve all been very helpful. Thank you!

I also have Emms book. Generally you read a chess book by playing through it. I do this OTB but I only have one board so i tend to play through the main line of an explanation then go round a second time and play through the variations. If I'm playing through a GM game, maybe 30 to 40 moves, I might go through it 3 or 4 times to make sense of what is going on. Basically, take your time and adsorb the lines. If you get to the end of a section and found your mind wandered, play through it again.