What books do you folks recommend as a primer for audio production and design, primarily for producing documentary videos? I'm looking for basic info on how microphones work, how to read the specs and sound maps for different microphones, how to record digital sound more than adequately, and everything I don't know enough to even ask about.

I started reading "shaping sound in the studio and beyond" and it seems good so far, but I won't have free access to it again and I'm not sure whether I should buy that or some other book.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Two books by Jay Rose, "Producing Great Sound for Film and Video" and "Audio Postproduction for Film and Video" are excellent resources. Both deserve a place on your bookshelf.

Yes, Jay Rose's books are the best I've seen for what you want. There are several editions, so if getting the books used, make sure to get the latest edition.

Here is Jay's website. He has links to Amazon for the books, and you can find out what the latest edition is here.
Digital Playroom: Audio for TV and New Media (http://www.dplay.com/)

On the website, Jay also has a section of links to a lot of tutorials he wrote for magazines that is worth a look as well:

Another book, though not cheap at $55, is "Location Audio Simplified" by S. Dean Miles. In a simple, straight-forward way, this book covers most practical issues for doing location audio. There are some excerpts from the book on the author's website:
Home (http://www.locationaudiosimplified.com/index.html)

This book is not sold on Amazon, so is harder to find used or discounted. You might find one of these used for a reduced price by putting a "want-to-buy" add in the classified section here at DVInfo.Net.

Thanks Steve and Jack, Jay Rose looks good from the articles I'm finding via the dplay.com site, I'm just starting to dive in. Thanks for the leads!