Art of the Checkmate

This book's method is to feature brief games, illustrating the same mating patterns, one after another, interspersed with thumbnail sketches of the chess masters who are playing the games.The explanations are broken down into small chunks, with lots of examples for each. As an aside, most games include a short biography of the players involved, which I personally enjoy as I find it adds a sense of reality and helps bring the games to life.