Unpuzzling Your Past: The Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy

If you've ever thought of find your roots, Emily Anne Croom's is the genealogy guide to get you going. She's got sensible chapters on how to get started, the meaning of names, the difference between a family history of dates and a family history of stories, how to gather sources, who to interview, and how to fit it all together. Croom breaks the process into bite-sized pieces to turn it into a fun project that takes shape and grows with each new family scrap.

There is also The Unpuzzling Your Past Workbook: Essential Forms and Letters for All Genealogists

The Everything Online Genealogy Book: Use the Web to Discover Long-Lost Relations, Trace Your Family Tree Back to Royalty, and Share Your History

The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy

Now in a newly revised edition, The Source: A Guidebook Of American Genealogy continues to be the primary reference work in its field. This new edition of The Source is intended to identify and describe the rich body of original research now available, and to facilitate the use of these so that family history can be preserved and enjoyed. Every chapter in this edition has been updated and fine-tuned based on the past 14 years of continuing research and scholarship. Because of the dramatic changes that have taken place in the field of genealogical research several chapters have been completely revised and two new chapters added ("Twentieth-Century Research" and "The Foundations of Family History Research". Whether a novice genealogist just starting out, or an experienced expert with years in the field, The Source is a "must" for all personal, genealogical society, and public library collections.