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A couple of years ago, I took up chess playing. You would not believe how many chess books are on the market. There are more books on chess than all other games combined! So, I started collecting chess books. However, you only actually need perhaps 10 of the very best books. Paul Morphy, the greatest player of the 19th century, only had 4 or 5 books in his collection. Basically, it is all a giant CON GAME put on by the chess authors and publisher. Now, I am starting to wonder if all these poker books are not a giant con game as WELL!
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I have studied chess for over 20 years and I have also written many reviews on books for chess magazines. It is pretty safe to say that you are totally wrong with your assumption about chess books.
There are many books with historical value, how people saw the game like 50 years ago. Some books cover the career of a certain player or cover important tournaments. Some books cover strategy and the rest is all about openings and the latest developments in that sector.
The only con books you can find in chess are those who promise something like "Winning with the XY Gambit" or "Winning with black". That's 100% worthless.
Besides that, there are also tons of books about poker. While my own chess library contains only something like 500 titles, that's much less than what is available on Poker:
http://www.holdemsecrets.com/books.htm