Our editor writes:
As you can see from our Steps for Family History Beginners, we want to encourage people who are interested in this ever growing hobby to become really good family historians. To achieve that end we need to be like good detectives who will look for every possible source material in our search for evidence, not minding too much about those negative outcomes and not losing heart when a trail seems to run very cold! All this necessitates a lot of reading in the actual process of research, but there should also be time for background reading. May I suggest three main reading categories:

	1. The 'How To Do Family History' Books
	2. Background History Books
	3. Accounts of Other People's Research

'How To Do Family History' Books
There are many such books. Small compact books are my preference for beginners like David Iredale's "Discovering Your Family Tree" in the Shire publications series and Debrett's "Guide to Tracing Your Ancestry" published by Headline. Countryside Books publish a number of good quality genealogical titles suitable for beginners including Eve McLaughlin's "First Steps in Family History".

The need for further help becomes more pressing once the researcher has gone back beyond the Victorian Registration and Census periods. For this reason Eve McLaughlin's "Further Steps in Family History" is to be highly recommended. This is a mine of information on Parish Registers, Old handwriting, Simple Latin, Non-conformism, Pre-1858 Wills, Newspapers, The Poor, Illegitimacy, Property and Pedigree Construction. Published by Countryside Books ISBN 1853060623.

Background History Books
Your enjoyment and the appreciation of those who will read your research later will be increased tremendously if you learn about the historical context in which your ancestors lived. After all you will want to know why people moved to other parts of the country and took up new professions. You will want to know something about the environment in which they lived and the challenges they had to face. Get as much of the socio-economic background as you can from selective reading.

The quantity and quality of local history books has improved tremendously in recent years. Where villages and small towns are concerned always see if you can find the Local History Society and see what they have published. Very often you will find background information which will explain the facts you have unearthed about your ancestors. For example you might want to ask why this Nottinghamshire farm labourer had sons who became framework knitters and why it was that the next generation left their village for the towns. An occasional bonus is when you find direct references in local histories to your own ancestors. Please look at our here for more information on this topic.

Accounts of Other People's Research
Most experienced family historians are happy to help other researchers and we can learn a great deal from their experience. You may feel that research findings from other people’s families would not interest you but this is far from true where people have set out not just their findings but their methods. To interest you, I want to recommend a particularly well written book by Joan Dexter. See also an excellent list of books from novelist Kay Gregory's links page.