First things first. That book wasn't really written by Bobby Fischer. Rather he lent his name for the cover basically. If you truly want a book for beginners and to really get started I recommend chess fundamentals By Jose Raul Capablanca who was the third official world chess champion. Just make sure to get the updated algebraic notation version though. Although a much more modern book would be the soviet chess primer by Ilya Maizelis. Also if you want a book truly written by Bobby Fischer get his book My 60 Memorable Games. It is quite a bit more advanced but that book was in fact written by him. Secondly that chess set is really just a combination of common pieces and a board. What I mean by that is that those are just normal weighted standard pieces that can be bought on amazon. Although I will say that silicone board is the superior compared to vinyl for the reasons you gave. But the comment on the quality of a chess piece being dictated by the knight really only applies to wood chess pieces. This is because plastic pieces are most likely just injection molded. While wood pieces are truly hand made. Which brings up the point on wood boards being heavy and cumbersome which is true if you travel a lot with your set. For example going from tournament to tournament. But for a set that won't be leaving your household nothing beats a solid, not folding, wood chess set. That is true quality. And last but not least I am no professional. I am simply an avid chess player wanting other new comers to truly have a good introduction and start. This is because chess is one of those things that if you don't have fond memories when starting up it can become quite difficult to remain motivated or even wanting to continue to play.
First things first. That book wasn't really written by Bobby Fischer. Rather he lent his name for the cover basically. If you truly want a book for beginners and to really get started I recommend chess fundamentals By Jose Raul Capablanca who was the third official world chess champion. Just make sure to get the updated algebraic notation version though. Although a much more modern book would be the soviet chess primer by Ilya Maizelis. Also if you want a book truly written by Bobby Fischer get his book My 60 Memorable Games. It is quite a bit more advanced but that book was in fact written by him.
Secondly that chess set is really just a combination of common pieces and a board. What I mean by that is that those are just normal weighted standard pieces that can be bought on amazon. Although I will say that silicone board is the superior compared to vinyl for the reasons you gave. But the comment on the quality of a chess piece being dictated by the knight really only applies to wood chess pieces. This is because plastic pieces are most likely just injection molded. While wood pieces are truly hand made. Which brings up the point on wood boards being heavy and cumbersome which is true if you travel a lot with your set. For example going from tournament to tournament. But for a set that won't be leaving your household nothing beats a solid, not folding, wood chess set. That is true quality.
And last but not least I am no professional. I am simply an avid chess player wanting other new comers to truly have a good introduction and start. This is because chess is one of those things that if you don't have fond memories when starting up it can become quite difficult to remain motivated or even wanting to continue to play.