Modern JavaScript: Design and Develop by Larry Ullman is a comprehensive guide for beginners. Ullman’s accessible writing style and easy-to-follow examples make JavaScript less intimidating for novice designers and developers. This is a perfect book to learn JavaScript fundamentals.

Maintainable JavaScript by Nicholas C. Zakas takes it to another level. Zakas shows you how to write clear, collaborative JavaScript. His suggestions include: keep JavaScript out of CSS and vice versa, keep JavaScript out of HTML and vice versa and don’t modify objects you don’t own. The book is concise, but indispensable.