I would like to know what stronger players think is a good book (or small
set of books) to build a solid foundation for playing chess. Most people
want a quick fix, but I am asking for a book (or books) that when studied,
will give a player a solid foundation for moving on to become a strong
player.

I am not exactly sure if this is a good example, but the Inner Game of Chess
comes to mind. It seems like it teaches a method to play chess which will be
applicable to any situation on the board. You still have to fill in some of
the details such as gaining knowledge, becoming tactically sound, and so on,
but the overall system seems like it would give one a solid foundation to
build upon.

An example of what I am trying to avoid is this. People say that you should
start with tactics because they are the most important, and they are a good
foundation. I think that what happens is that people (mostly beginners and
weaker players, which is most of us) get wrapped up in tactics and their
"chess growth" is stunted. They spend all of their time looking for cheap
tactics and never progress as a player. A book like the Inner Game of Chess
would teach you that tactics are not the end, but one of the many means to
the real end.

I am currently picturing chess ability as a tree. I am looking for the roots
and trunk of the tree (the solid part). The branches are things that you
fill in later, like tactics, endgame, opening, pawn structure, and so on. If
someone learns tactics first, they're left with one branch and have no
direction, and they never get any better.

I appreciate your thoughts and comments.