Palmer was my first, and it really made it easy to start out in the hobby. The others mentioned are all recognized as good(though I have not read Complete Joys of Homebrewing) From your other post, it seems like you started without reading and relied on the store to help. Palmer is set up as a best to read before starting, so you can understand what you are doing and why. That formula has worked well for many. I also love being on this forum, my brewing has evolved so much in the last 2.5 years from the advice I have received here. As for recipe formulation, I can follow a great recipe well, but really dont have the creativity to do well formulating my own. When I have thoughts or ideas on new recipes, I also post them here for feedback. I have almost always liked the resulting brews, especially after taking the advice and making suggested tweaks. Cant really go wrong with a good beginner book and the help here. keep asking questions