Recommended chess book for novices trying to improve

At the moment I'm eagerly awaiting the book I ordered yesterday, "The total idot's guide to chess" by GM Patrick Wolff. In spite of the title this book has been recommended to players struggling to improve by, among others, renowned chess trainer Dan Heisman and "expert player" Mehmet Gok (at amazon.com)

Chess - The very first step

1.e4 - the very beginning of a chess game. A symbol for all the possibilities. And this is exactly that: A chance taken. My very first blog, one that will be about my chess interest. We'll see what happens along the way...