Here are a handful of beginner and all-purpose guides to get you started:
America's Best Genealogy Resource Centers, by William Dollarhide and Ronald A. Bremer (Heritage Quest; $15.95)
Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide to Family History and Genealogy, by Jim Willard and Terry Willard (Houghton Mifflin; $16)
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy, by Christine Rose and Kay Germain Ingalls (Alpha; $17.95)
Do People Grow on Family Trees? Genealogy for Kids and Other Beginners, by Ira Wolfman (Workman; $9.95)
The Handy Book for Genealogists (Everton Publishers; $31.95)
Unpuzzling Your Past: A Basic Guide to Genealogy, by Emily Anne Croom (Betterway Books; $14.99)
Virtual Roots: A Guide to Genealogy and Local History on the World Wide Web, by Thomas Jay Kemp (Scholarly Resources; $24.95)
Four Good Periodicals
Fellow time travelers share their expertise in these bimonthly magazines:
Ancestry Handsome compendium of helpful how-tos. $24.95 a year.
800-262-3787; www.ancestry.com
Everton's Genealogical Helper At 51, the granddaddy of them all. $24 a year. 800-443-6325; www.everton.com
Family Chronicle User-friendly tips. $21 a year. 888-326-2476; www.familychronicle.com
Heritage Quest Well regarded, with knowledgeable writers. $28 a year. 800-658-7755; www.heritagequest.com
-- With reporting by Melissa August and Chandrani Ghosh/
Washington, Curtis Black/Chicago, Deborah Fowler/Houston, Timothy Roche/Pensacola and Megan Rutherford/New York, with other bureaus
