The Safest Sicilian: A Black Repertoire with 1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6

I read this book in early 2006. Back then, I had just become an FM, and I wanted an alternative to my usual Paulsen Sicilian. This book was great for me, it helped me learn the Taimanov, which in my view is just as good as the "major Sicilians" (i.e., Najdorf, Paulsen, Sveshnikov, Four Knights), but people tend to study it a lot less, so this book was often more than enough for me to leave my opponents outprepared.

Although the book is largely a theory book, I still felt I learned many good ideas, and I had to force myself to reassess certain positions, where I was biased and hadn't fully grasped the correct plans or evaluations.