More Reading Matter

I just caught up with my mate from The National Archives in the UK, Audrey Collins on B2 the British  (and Australian) Floor of The Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Audrey knows that I am big kid who likes surprises especially if they are in the form of a book.

When I visited the National Archives a couple of years ago I bought a couple of family history guides published by The Archives but I didn't buy David Annal's "Easy Family History" because it was labelled Easy but Audrey had told me it was a great little book so I thought it would be a good addition to my collection. Unfortunately the book went out of print so I didn't get a copy.

Audrey (right) and I with my new book

My surprise today was a signed copy of the newly published second edition of Easy Family History: the stress-free guide to researching your family history by David Annal ISBN 9781408175705. The book can be purchased online from the Archives Bookshop.

David says in his introduction "in the eight years since the first edition of Easy Family History  was published, the world of genealogy has changed almost beyond recognition."  This second edition  has been rewritten to take account of the technological changes that have impacted on the way we conduct our family history research. In addition to 14 chapters that cover all common categories of resource the book has a glossary, useful addresses, useful websites, further reading and an index.

From my quick scan of its pages this morning I can recommend this book as an excellent guide for beginners and a good reference for those of us who have been plugging away at our research for a while. One of the speakers on the recent Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise suggested that we would all benefit from reading a beginner's guide on genealogy; this book would be an excellent one for this purpose.