recommended reading for beginners
The single book that carries the curator's strongest recommendation for beginners is Kageyama's Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go. This book isn't for total beginners, however. It does expect that you know the rules and can play through a game. But if you can only afford one book, make sure this is the one. Learn the rules and the very elementary basics online or at a club, and then read this book. Read it often.
If you're looking for a series of books that cover a range of topics there are two separate sets of books aimed at teaching beginner players enough about the fundamentals in go to develop a strength of around 1 dan.
The first series is the Elementary Go Series published by Kisiedo. Originally written in the 1970's by James Davies et al. it has helped thousands of people learn the game.
The second is Janice Kim's Learn to Play Go. This is a more modern series, and most people nowadays seem to recommend it in favour of Elementary Go. Currently the first five volumes have been published. It seems that there are plans for one more theory volume and then three volumes of problems. Once you've finished reading this series, you should also pick up "Tesuji" by Davies.
No matter which series you decide to read to learn Go, don't forget to also read Kageyama's Fundamantals.
 'In The Beginning' by Ikuro Ishigure |
 '38 Basic Joseki' by Kiyoshi Kosugi |
 'Tesuji' by James Davies |
 'Life And Death' by James Davies |
 'Attack And Defence' by James Davies |
 'Endgame, The' by Tomoko Ogawa |
 'Learn to Play Go, Volume I' by Janice Kim, Jeong Soo-hyun |
 'Learn to Play Go Volume II: The Way of the Moving Horse' by Janice Kim, Jeong Soo-hyun |
 'Learn to Play Go Volume III: The Dragon Style' by Janice Kim, Jeong Soo-hyun |
 'Learn to Play Go Volume IV: Battle Strategies' by Janice Kim, Jeong Soo-hyun |
 'Learn to Play Go Volume V: The Palace of Memory' by Janice Kim |
 'Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go' by Toshiro Kageyama |