Bonsai Techniques 1&2 by John Naka are two books that would be considered 'cream of the crop' but can also be a little costly. You could also go to your local library which should have at least a few Bonsai books aimed towards beginners. "Bomsai with Japanese maples" By Peter Adams is also a great book, as you could guess its aimed towards working with maples but most of its information is universal.

You could try a book store like borders or half priced books to see if they have anything... that way you can see what your buying before purchase. If you are looking online you might be better off with ebay, Amazon has more "High price scam artists".

Welcome to the wonderful fulfilling hobby of Bonsai.

-Mike

Mike, Thanks very much for the suggestions, and I wrote them down to take along with me to the book store. If they don't have them and no other ones that look like I'd like them, I'll probably order those that you recommended as long as them aren't too terribly expensive. I don't know how soon I'll get into bonsai but wanted to start looking into it and get a few good books. Now I'm hoping I'm not too dumb to learn it! ;-)
Cathy

John Naka's books are excellent. The illustrations are just fabulous. Initially, it is a bit overwhelming. There are two aspects: how to grow a plant in a small pot and how to make them look like a mature tree in nature. I would suggest start with learning with the container culture and learning how plants grow and what they need. It takes a little while to get used to growing in a pot.

I am not an expert in bonsai, I am still learning. To me chinese elms are easiest to start with. They are hardy, tolerate severe pruning, easy to make cuttings and tolerate wide range of growing conditions. Great for experimenting.

Bonsai is really a lot more beginner friendly than most seem to think. When you attempt to begin to educate yourself in the art it can seem overwhelming due to the fact that there are so many different styles and practices involved in the art. Not to mentioned that the practices can be tailored into different methods of approach for the same desired effect. The truth is for beginners the most important thing to learn is watering, which. Bonsai need a good free draining soil that holds enough water to stay wet no more than three days at a time. Timing your watering is also very important (not over watering). Other than that everything can be taken in at a moderate level by reading literature and preferably if available by joining a local club where ideas can be expressed and compared with fellow enthusiasts.

The Naka books go for around $40-60 bucks each and the Jap. Maples book can be picked up on eBay for $25 if I remember right. The complete book of bonsai by Harry Tomlinson is also good as well as the Bonsai Today Magazines which have very good and have some of the best in depth articles for exact practices and techniques (which can be found on eBay).

-Mike

My favorite author is Colin Lewis.
His beginner books and his latest book on 4 species is outstanding.
Both E bay and Amazon have them at reasonable prices.

Paul