I am no longer considered a Neo-Pagan, per se, but I dabbled into it before I moved onto Shaktism. 


I honestly would recommend Scott Cunningham's books, just as many others in this thread said.

 I have read Silver Ravenwolf's Teen Witch and then I checked out her other books (I did not read all of the other books, more like skimmed).  Suffice to say, I was not impressed because she seemed condescending and she also seemed like she was exploiting teenagers and spent a good amount of time overly criticizing Christians; do not get me wrong, I am fine with a little bit of it for maybe a paragraph or so, but a lot of it turns off people and can drive them away from Wiccan or even Witchcraft in general.  While some of the things she has to say is an okay start for those who want to learn a bit about Neo-Paganism, you have to really take everything she says with a lot of skepticism.  Some of the things that she claims can be misleading if you rely solely on her.  I also know that sometimes, her resources are not reliable. 

A general critique that can apply to a lot of Neo-Pagan books is that Neo-Paganism is so individualistic that the authors will sometimes end up putting more of their personal beliefs in their writing than what would help people understand general Neo-Paganism.  While flexibility in a religion is not a problem in itself, sometimes the authors do not always talk about general Neo-Paganism and instead, talk about their own way of practicing it and no other way.  While the Hindu authors that I have read are sometimes guilty of this, I have not seen it so much and it is usually an established fact that it is a family of religions and not just one religion (provided the author is half decent in writing the book).  At any rate, I digress.



I probably spent more of this thread criticizing Silver Ravenwolf and some of the Neo-Pagan literature that I have seen, but I hope this thread can be helpful to anyone who is sincerely seeking information.  I honestly cannot recommend just one book, but many books with Neo-Paganism, at least for those who sincerely want to make a distinction between Neo-Paganism trends, as well as the 'traditional trends' of the religions that they base their practices off of.  If an author does a good job of avoiding the claim that their religion was the oldest religion, as well as a book that is done somewhat with modesty and with less 'fluffiness', I think the person found a good starter book.



Sincerely,
TheRadiantSeraphim

I think the best thing I can recommend to someone starting out is to read as much as you can-anything you can.
Compare the things you read. Find what seems right to you.

Go to a Pagan bookstore (or sometimes a new age bookstore) and talk to people about the books.
I have found some very interesting people in "New Age" or "Pagan" bookstores and have learned a lot about the books from them.

If you see that the person who works there in knowledgeable ask them for advise about the books. Often people who work in these stores practice.

I really don't think any one book should be relied on for all of your information.

I think it depends on the comfort level of the person.   Some people  could jump into it with Scott Cunningham's book first, because it looks "harmless"  and safe.   

Raymond Buckland's "beginner" book, is a bit more blatant.

Silver's beginner book trilogy was in-between those two.

Now if someone wanted to jump into and not look back they could start with Christopher Penzack's books ( they are some of the few that I've read where the author actually explains how to do certain techniques that are talked about in other books, but he's one of the few to actually walk you through it.)

Now...personally...I think any one book that is written by an author sympathetic to paganism that offers a basic covering of the beliefs and traditions...is the better place to start.


Me, I started with Scott Cunningham's book Wicca for the Solitary and Silver RavenWolf's Book of Shadows for the New Generation (you know, the big brown thick book), and Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magickal Herbs.

Christopher Penzack's book Ascension Magick is the only book I have of his so far, and I really like it. He does walk you through things, which is really nice. 

I really enjoy Christopher Penzak as well. I like his writing style, it's like you are getting a one on one with him and he makes you feel a little more relaxed in my opinion. I have 4 of his books so far and really enjoy them.