Entering Jewish Prayer: A Guide to Personal Devotion and the Worship Service Book

Entering Jewish Prayer provides a good exploration of the history and meaning of Jewish prayer. Rabbi Hammer's book begins with a discussion of the purposes and functions of prayer and then moves on to offer a history of the development of prayer and the synagogue, and the composition of the siddur. The book then provides a discussion of the prayers themselves, including individual chapters on both the shema and the amida.

My only real gripe about this book is that, while it does quote extensively from the liturgy, it provides only the English translations for the various blessings and prayers, requiring any reader who wants to follow Hammer's discussions along with the prayers in the original Hebrew and Aramaic to keep a siddur on hand.

Overall, however, the book is an insightful and well-researched look at the practice and halakha of both private and communal prayer.