How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time

Great book. No book covers every aspect but this is close. This was my fourth book on the subject and wish I would have started with this one. I would highly recommend this book if you are just getting started in home brewing with extract or just getting started with all grain.

Of all the authors who talk about homebrewing, John J. Palmer is by far the best writer. His prose is witty, entertaining and relentlessly focussed on clarifying the complexities and celebrating the simplicities of the small-scale brewing of beer.

There are probably three books that are genuinely helpful for the beginning homebrewer. Which one is right for you depends on how you approach techniques of dealing with things in the physical world.
If the idea of doing anything physical scares the bejabbers out of you, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition (Harperresource Book). This is a very simple, slow and reassuring book. The author sounds like the friendliest, least intimidating guy in the world. The style is very chummy in a post-frathouse kind of way that some people find very difficult to read and that others find relaxing. In this book you may see the ancestor of the Complete Dummies series. I believe that Papazian, who has made a carreer of coaching homebrewers, has been published on the topic for thirty years or so.
If you're the sort of person who likes the idea of baking his own bread or wiring her own lamp, then probably The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing is right for you. The information is straightforward and well-organized and he allows for the fact that sometimes you want to make it fast and simple and other times you may want to linger over the details. There's a separate book of recipes ordered by beer style and also by degree of difficulty.
If you love fundamentals, then Palmer is the book for you. There are dozens of complications lurking in Palmer's world of brewing and a host of precautions and gadgets for avoiding them. The author is not a negative soul, on the contrary, he seems like a guy who just wants to get to the bottom of things. How to BrewHow to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time is also the book for those who are themselves curious about fundamentals: the hard science of brewing is to be found here.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine and bang BANG

Excellent book. It has info on everything you need to know about homebrewing. I keep it by my bedside.

I am Norwegian, just started brewing, only 6 batches. I think this was a very good and informative book, from preparations trough the prosess till the ready-to-drink product. All You need to make a good brew!
janh

I started brewing around Christmas time, and got this to learn a bit more. I am bottling my first partial on the weekend, all grain soon to come!

John uses very easy to understand language, and the scientific sections can be avoided - there are normally summaries if you are not interested. I have found this very useful - if you are new to brewing, you probably will too.