A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
Beloved Western Buddhist teacher Kornfield makes known his personal, practical wisdom, garnered from 25 years of practicing and teaching the path of awakening, as he guides self-searchers to a simplicity of perception that brings alive spiritual practice, peace, and truth in their daily lives. Good for all, Buddhist and non Buddhist.

Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path
This book by the Western Buddhist nun Ayya Khema is a valuable guide to the path of meditative insight and Buddhism. It is direct, clear, and inspiring." Good brief exposure to Theravadan Buddhis for beginners.

Heartwood of the Bodi Tree: The Buddha's Teaching on Voidness
A profound and beautiful book by a Thai master explaining the practice of non-clinging or sunnata, a thread that links every great school of Buddhism. For more serious reading.

Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom
Goldstein, a father of American Buddhism, starts from the questions that his students have asked over the course of years. Goldstein does not try to answer everything, but addresses those issues that are likely to come about as one begins the practice of meditation. Whether one is a seasoned practitioner or a beginner, Goldstein is sure to have something to offer.

Journey to the Center
"Flickstein is both a psychotherapist and a meditation teacher. His attractively designed workbook on insight meditation is a fine and seamless joining of those two traditions.... This is a book to do rather than simply to read, a book to work with slowly and intensely but also joyfully."

Mindfulness in Plain English
If you'd like to read about meditation and then go back to your regular life, don't get this book. Henepola Gunaratana -- a monk from Sri Lanka and venerated teacher of Buddhism -- warns us that vipassana meditation is "meant to revolutionize the whole of your life experience." In one of the best nuts-and-bolts meditation manuals, he lays out the fundamentals of basic Buddhist meditation; the how, what, where, when, and why, including common problems and how to deal with them.

Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation
Guides the reader in developing the openness and compassion that are at the heart of the spiritual practice of insight meditation. With specific exercises which accompany discussions and practices. By Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield. Designed for beginners as well as intermediate and advanced students.