I get asked a lot about what PowerShell books people should be reading. The easy answer is, “It depends”.

If you’re looking for a tutorial book (or two) to get you started with PowerShell, the only answer I give is “Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches”, followed by “Learn PowerShell Toolmaking in a Month of Lunches”. There are other good books in this space (including one I wrote), but these are by far the best I’ve found.

If you’re looking for a reference book, I generally recommend Bruce Payette’s “PowerShell in Action”. It has a new version coming out soon (april?) and I can hardly wait. Besides that book, “PowerShell in Depth” (by Jones, Hicks, and Siddaway) is also a safe bet.

If you’ve got the basics of PowerShell down, and are looking for ideas for how to do something, here are some books that aren’t mentioned as often, but are indispensible:

1. PowerShell Cookbook (Lee Holmes)
2. PowerShell Deep Dives (several)
3. PowerShell for Developers (Doug Finke)

What are your book recommendations? Did I miss something essential?

-Mike