WARNING! This website is no longer actively maintained. It is an archive of 2 years work by Doug Belshaw who now blogs at dougbelshaw.com...
I don’t read nearly as many books relating to education as I’d like to, but then I read about 100x more blog posts about education than the average teacher (oh, and articles for my Ed.D.) Bearing all that in mind, I thought I’d recommend three books that a teacher new to the ‘profession’ would find useful and inspirational: one about the philosophy of teaching, one practical, and one about more technical/technological aspects. I’d be interested in your contribution too… 
Teaching as a Subversive Activity
This book has had a huge influence on me. This quotation kind of sums up my attitude towards schools:
The institution we call ’school’ is what it is because we made it that way. If it is irrelevant, as Marshall McLuhan says; if it shields children from reality, as Norbert Wiener says; if it does not develop intelligence, as Jerome Bruner says; if it is based on fear, as Carl Rogers says; if it punishes creativity and independence, as Edfar Friedenberg says; if, in short, it is not doing what needs to be done, it can be changed; it must be changed.
More on Neil Postman, one of the authors of this book at Wikipedia, and some musings on Teaching as a Subversive Activity over at Pedablogy…
The Teacher’s Toolkit
What a fantastic resource this is! Even teachers not used to implementing active or exciting learning techniques for fear of potential behaviour problems can garner something from this marvellous manual. There’s an excellent introduction which goes through various theories in an easy-to-understand way (with cartoons!), followed by an extremely useful middle section with various learning activities, and then a final bit on behaviour management and strategies. A must for all teachers!
Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts
I haven’t actually read this myself (yet) but judging by the responses of those who have, it’s exactly what I imagined it would be: a straight-down-the-line and accessible demonstration of how ‘new media’ tools can have an amazingly positive impact in the classroom. More information as to what the book contains over at Will Richardson’s blog.
Which books would you recommend to new teachers? 
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Kudos for mentioning “Teaching as a Subversive Activity.” Along those lines, I would also include “The soft revolution: A student handbook for turning schools around,” another winner by Neil Postman. This book is directed towards students but there’s a lot for teachers here as well.
Thanks Rob, I’ll have to check that out!