I'm trying to compile a list of the most important and influential books about social work. Do you remember what books you studied during your social work training? Did any have a particular impact on you? I'd be delighted to hear your suggestions!  

I found this book - Social Work Practice - useful

I suppose it depends if you are thinking of most important as a student or ones that are particularly useful through practice..

 Anyway, I think Malcolm Payne's Modern Social Work Theory, is about as classic as they come in both instances! I personally found Assessment in Social Work  (Milner and O'Byrne) so useful that I actually bought a second copy when I lost my first! 

Other than that, the good old Mental Health Act Manual which is forever associated with social workers!

I'd also add Anti-discriminatory Practice by Neil Thompson in there. Lots of useful stuff although more recently I've read through Promoting Equality and think it has a bit more depth and would definitely recommend it.

I know that's five already - but a good dictionary of Social Work is handy as long as it's up to date

hi, i am a student. the books i find most useful are P. Trevithick --social work skills,  Coulshed and Orme --social work practice, the blackwell companion to social work by Davies and Critical practice in social work by Adams, Dominelli and Payne.  if i was to suggest a book to someone with little knowledge of social work i would suggest understanding social work by N. Thompson

Bury Me With My boots On..........cant remember who wrote it but its an absolutely fascinating look at the plight of the homeless.

Looked after kid- Palo Hewitt (i think that is how you spell the authors name)

Malcom Payne did my head in when I first started to read it! I would not start with this as a student

Dictionary is a must

 Ive only just got Jones- Mental Health manual dont know much about it- seems as scary as Malcom Payne did.

 Allen- Children Act 1989

Julie

Howe D, et al - Attachment Theory, child maltreatment and family support - although it refers to children in the title this is relevant across the age spans - easy to read (a must for any book that is to be recommended) neatly subdivided into sensible headings making it easy to use as a reference book

Vera Fahlberg - A child's journey through placement - old but keeps being reprinted for the very good reason that it's an absolute classic - easy to read - main complaint is lack of index so it's worth finding a way of bookmarking or creating your own index as you go

I also like anything written by Bill Jordan, especially his short essays or chapters that form part of 'edited' books but that probably says more about my politics than anything else!  Especially useful for first year assignments.  Language and sentence structure can sometimes be a bit complex but worth reading nonetheless.

(and I never did get my head round Jones' mental health book - couldn't engage with it at all)

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would like to 'second' Blackwell's Companion (mentioned above) - love it or hate it - I loved it but it seems to get mixed reviews - lots of chapters covering lots of subjects but as each chapter also covers quite a lot of it's subject it tends to be quite 'concise' and you really have to concentrate when reading it.

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