Everybody has their favourites for any guide book category. There is no perfect choice for all, much depends on the level of knowledge already assumed. There is also quite a wide spread of styles: from the discursive text, though the bullet points to the picture book. Much of the usefulness is connected with familiarity, that is: if you know the order of topics in your first book, you keep returning to it to look up specific points. Of those with a contrast in approach that I have seen passed around the local bka:
Ted Hooper is the classic, plus points are that everyone knows of it, lot of information and good section on forage plants. It's also under a tenner from online book retailers. Minus points include that it is dated. There are additions, including the pests section but much of the text has been unchanged since the 1970s and the style of manuals has moved on. From a book design point of view, the page layout is in large slabs of text which makes it hard to skim when looking for something specific.
David Cramp is a more recent book (2010). Plus is that it has been written from scratch with a more modern layout, white space, sub headings, tables, bullet point lists. It does have a more international flavour, Spain, and New Zealand as well as the UK from the author's own experience. Minus points may be that it is less comprehensive than others; it tends to concentrate on mainstream practice now rather than historical variants. Includes technical detail not seen elsewhere such as rates of HMF formation at different temperatures and it sources the data. Also around a tenner online.
The Haynes manual by Claire and Adrian Waring is also recent and more visual still. More illustrations and diagrams than any other manual. Minus points include less technical detail, the larger format is harder to carry around and it costs more, around 14 quid online.
This is purely a personal take based on the way text books have evolved in other subjects. One point to bear in mind is that a decent book to get you started is amazingly good value compared with what most will spend on a hive (150?), a nucleus of bees (50-150?), feeders, suits and all the other kit. A book costs less than a stainless hive tool and if you really don't like it you can always use it to light your smoker.
