"The Idiots Guide to Quilting". I borrowed it from the library when I started quilting and it helped me to learn the basics very quickly because the information is very easy to understand. It has a lot of information, tips, patterns (mostly easy ones), little quilting tidbits, and little warnings to help keep you away from a hair pulling situation. I think its also has a couple of pages with information on bed and quilt sizes and how to choose fabric for you to rip out and hang up on a wall so you can look it up without paging through the book.