[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Just picked it up today. Invaluable. "The Backyard Astronomer's Guide" by Dickinson & Dyer, Firefly Books (Canajian eh!). Serious and sensible advice on scopes, EPs, mounts etc. etc.
Much of it is covered on various forums (fora?) but here its all packed into one reasonadly up-to-date (2007/8) volume.
Buy one. You won't regret it.