Hi James, Yes, books, books and more books! When I first started with ancient coins I bought as many coins as I could, never too expensive, but just to quite literally get a feel! There really is no substitute for a coin in the hand. From a picture you very quickly loose touch with the size, weight, thickness, colour and general "feel" of a coin. After an initial frenzy, I was left with a load of coins that I had no real idea about! Next came the books. I thought I spent too much on coins until I started to buy books! But if I could pass on some advice I was given, buy the book first! If you are new to Ancients, Chris has a fantastic book on Roman bronze coins for under £6. There is also a silver one planned, and I'm sure due this year. If you are still interested, there are loads of other books, but its worth looking around, getting an idea of what you are interested in, specialise if you can, then buy the books best suited to your interest. A good place to start is your local library, see what they have. They can often order books from central libraries for you to look at too. Most of all, enjoy! Dave