Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore
Excellent book. Rippetoe is obviously very knowledgable when it comes to weight lifting and the physiological components/nature of the lifts. There are many, many diagrams of musculature and movement of the lifts themselves, and photos of Rip with his students demonstrating the points themselves.
The best thing about the book is the no-nonsense approach. After a brief introduction explaining his philosophy and the program itself, he goes straight into the squat--50 or so pages of it. From basic understanding, myths, key points, bar placement, foot placement, foot angles, hand placement, where to focus the eyes, diagrams of where the weight should be centered, etc. Very thorough. He does this for the bench press, deadlift, press, and power clean--all five the major components of the program.
After the main exercises, he goes into assistance exercises, which include stuff like rack deads, box squats, rack press, board press, RDL, rows, etc. He also has a list of ancillary exercises, like pull ups, dips, extensions, etc., which he explains as not being "assistance" but more like complementary to the program, I suppose.
Best points of the book, in my opinion:
- -The diagrams. Rippetoe makes simple diagrams that shows where the weight needs to be (always over midfoot) and the line it needs to take (as it gets heavier, bar doesn't want to go anywhere but straight up or down). Great analysis of the correct angles (when the hips should open compared to when the knees should open, for example) and body positions, kinetic chains, etc.
- -The photos. All photos correspond with the teaching, all are clear, simple, no bullshit here. Athletes all look impressive, Rippetoe always looks like he's ready to rip your throat out.
- -The program itself. Very simple, but very easy to understand and makes a lot of sense. Doesn't go into the advanced programming stuff (anyone over, or maybe AT intermediate level will need Practical Programming for that) and again, its easy enough to read and understand that if you don't figure it out, the next book you decide to tackle should probably be the Bernstein Bears.
In conclusion: buy this book. NOW.