Which books inspired and motivated - or influenced you in any way - the most when entering astronomy as an amateur?
Despite ending up with probably almost 10 books not long after getting into the hobby the following two were surely among the most positively influencial ones (not to be mistaken with them being second to none concerning content... maybe they are, but at the time they were just highly inspiring):
The first one "Astronomy for Beginners" from Kosmos, 2002, by Werner E. Celnik & Hermann-Michael Hahn, is the first real dedicated astronomy book I bought. It is an allrounder introductory into astronomy, now in it's xyz edition, telling you about the sky as a whole, the most important optical phenomena like rainbows or blue snow, explaining different celestial objects from the individual planets to nebulae and galaxies, treats the fundaments of observing equipment from binoculars to refractors, reflectors, even catadiopters, and covers visual observing including filters. It ends with a very brief outline of general astrophotography.
The second one "Astrophotography for Beginners" from Kosmos, 2000, is dedicated to, well, astrophotography, at least what could be regarded at up to date back then. That includes covering the topic with good old school analogue photography to about 3/4 of the book and introducing the cutting-edge CCD techniques back then with SBIG ST-7 or ST-8 cameras being as expensive as a small automobile. 
Oh when I think back... What a long way we've come. 
Why were these highly influencial? It was probably due to the first book covering the whole range of topics, yet not as deep to result in a scary huge book, it's writing style not being too dry, full of explanations and rich with pictures, taking the reader by the hand to go from one spectacular object to the next, Saturn, Jupiter, M31 etc. It was not shy to present some of the astro equipment in order to positively awe the reader with a backyard observing location with a 6" refractor, going on to explain the relation between aperture and limiting magnitude, thus awaking the readers curiosity for more. Everything is deepely enough covered to ignite the readers interest even more, yet not as much as to beat him with details and technicals. In the end the final astrophotography chapter got me hooked on a dedicated book in this regard. All in all it was just the right book as a starter and to get going. It was a page-turner and invigorated a "Wow, cool!"-feeling in general, and what can be achieved with average equipment in detail, always making oneself wonder what more could be achieved with more effort and an hour or two longer analogue exposures.
Nowadays, with the high-tech equipment there is available ($-$$$) to amateurs compared to 20 years ago, these books are still fun to just have a look into and bring up warm, cosy memories of hours without end in the back-road drawing with pencils or piggy back analogue photography, listening to cicadas, the silence, and the occasional chilly breeze. Good times!
What are yours?
