Two books that I have found helpful are both by author David Reed:
The Art & Craft of Stonework
The Art & Craft of Stonescaping
I guess it depends on the type of stone you will be using and what you're interested in building as to which book would be more helpful. There are several others in our local library which we found to be good reference books too. Hope this helps, Karen

check out a cool website called the www.stonefoundation.org all about stone and its uses good links and resources (pics too) start doing some pushups and situps to strengthen that core muscle group if you want to wrastle with the rocks. good luck!

We were guided by a book called Stonework: techniques and projects, by Charles McRaven, and our wall is still standing 2 months later :-) although now that sageone mentions it, my back is still a little quirky...

I also recommend the books by David Reed. After going to the library and looking at several, David Reed is the one I bought because he gives very detailed step-by-step instructions with pictures and lots of inspiration.

I'm also looking for a book on splitting stone ,I 'mean all kinds of stone from field stone ( round kind) to limestone..
Apparenly stone has grain which you split along .I once worked in a mason shop which touched breifly on this subject but I left before getting much info..

We rented a video from our local library that my husband found very helpful. If you live in Canada, you might be able to order it at your library.

Stonemasonry for beginners [videorecording] / featuring stonemason Bill Child.
Thetis Island, BC : Cloudmountain Communications, 1999.
Additional Author or Narrator: Child, Bill.
Cloudmountain Communications.
ISBN: 0968306209
Description: 1 videorecording (95 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in