an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 08/29/17 at 00:40:50:

Thank you for sharing these ideas.  Some of the ones you mention are part of the reason am eager for a well rounded endgame education.

Had planned on taking advantage of chesstempo's endgame studies after completing my first endgame book (Seirawan) but am always interested in knowing about more books for my level and hadn't heard of the ones you mention here, will look definitely into them.

What IsaVulpes wrote is correct as far as it goes, but is not the whole story.

• Some openings give rise to typical endgames, so studying those endgames will improve your opening play.
• A solid endgame ability will improve one's confidence in nearly any middlegame. After all, the objective of a well-played middlegame is to reach a won ending. Even a player faced with a "mating attack" can often reach an endgame by shedding more or less material. So whether one is attacking or defending, endgame skill is useful.
• Endgames teach tactics! Endgame studies are especially good for teaching tactical imagination.

I don't think your endgame study plan is overkill at all. In fact I would add a book on studies. A couple of good ones that should be available are:

• Jeno Ban, The Tactics of End-games - a real eye-opener for tactics.
• Sutherland & Lommer, 1234 Modern End-game Studies - just doing the pawn endings will keep you busy for a long time.

There are others.

If you truly don't think you will ever reach 1800 (whyever that would be), I think this is already way too much material; let alone do you need more. 
I'm at that level, and I know basic pawn endings (KP vs K, "The outside passer wins", "Connected Passers are god"), to put Rooks on the 7th, that King+Bishop+Pawn vs King is draw if its a wrong coloured promotion square and a rook pawn, how to win Queen vs King+PawnOnThe7th -- and that's about it.

I barely ever reach endgames in the first place (or if, then ones where I'm 3 pawns up or a piece down or somesuch, where knowing endgames or not doesn't really change the outcome of the game), so even those few things I know don't tend to come into play too often -- and outside of Rapid/Blitz, it's generally possible to calculate your way around to a decent continuation.
   
Depending on your opening repertoire, general playstyle, etc that may be different for you, but the general gist stays the same - getting some opening knowledge, positional understanding, and tactics tactics tactics is wayyyy more important than any kind of theoretical (or practical) endgame knowledge IMO; as those things will actually be useful in every game, while endgames you may practice for endless hours and then never reach.

Endgames become important when you (and your opponents) actually make so few errors in the earlier parts of the game that you regularly reach them, AND your opponents actually know enough about them that you need to keep pace (ie if you don't know how to draw KR vs KRP, but your opponents also don't know how to win KRP vs KR, the lack of knowledge doesn't really hurt you); which from my experience isn't the case until a good bit beyond 2000+.

I think Mednis's little book is still a very good place to start exploring the topic of rook endings.

The theory part is digestible, the explanations are good and there are many practical examples of how to apply the theory.

If you can find a copy at a decent price, buy it! - it's a little gem.

For people under 1800, my suggestion is just to read Silman up to the chapter at your level or one more. If you read a more reference-like work (e.g., de la Villa), you will be fooled into thinking that you acquired useful knowledge, but you probably won't retain it, you probably won't be able to execute it perfectly even if you do recall it, and you'll rarely get into positions where it's relevant anyway. I have plenty of issues with Silman's style in general, but just the fact that his book is organized by difficulty rather than by topic makes it the best choice for someone in your situation.

I don't think there's any harm in reading through Averbakh fairly quickly just to get a sense of the topics, but I wouldn't study it closely. Rate Your Endgame is a fantastic book, but it's about practical rather than theoretical endgames, and it would be pretty difficult for you right now. I recall the Emms book as being pretty good, but I doubt it's the best use of your studying resources right now.

If you want a book on practical endgame strategy, I highly recommend Hellsten's Mastering Endgame Strategy, which is what finally made me feel I had a clue about devising and pursuing a plan in the endgame.