Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual

I'm studying this book in order to try and improve my calculation skills. The explanations make a lot of sense, but the exercises seem near-impossible. How do I work through the exercises as a club player? I understand it won't be easy, but I'd like to know where to start from someone who has studied the Endgame Manual.

Actually just now I realised I was actually able to solve one of the exercises if I go through all the variations on the Lichess analysis board (not using the engine of course!), but I'm told that the best way to improve is by solving all problems without moving the pieces. Should I start off with listing out all the variations and then later move on to doing it in my head? Or should I just work harder at trying to solve the exercises in my head?

That book is meant for stronger players, theres no sense banging your head on something like that. If you want to work through a book to help you improve id recommend Yusupovs orange books. If you want endgame books in particular then 100 endgames you must know is something worth looking at.

You have to decide on your own if the excercises are to difficult. You could try first solving them by moving the pieces and a bit later (a day or week) try again without.

Rxg2

You should do silmans endgame book if that's too hard.

I agree to Dvoretsky's exercises are not suitable for starting to learn -- and his comedy and tragedy things are obscure as Adam's off ox. Muller and Lambrecht is much more straightforward. Or if you can find the old Averbakh Basic Endings book it is just right, as Goldilocks would say.

100 Endgames You Must Know basically summarizes what Dvoretsky is saying into shorter lines and most club players would understand it pretty well

It is meant for pros actually. Or if you feel like one. :D

It took me 16 months of hard work. Whereas de la Villa 16 days to work through...

well what is essential know : very little unless you are master level. I have Nunn's "Understanding chess endgames" which is one those all endgame manuals. Then on this set of important endgames quite often there is comment "many grandmaster fail to handle this correctly". So I guess on that list of essential games there are quite few that you can skip untill you are goign for super GM level of play. Probably Silmans endgame book is all that is needed for quite some time