Recommendation solicited for a good beginner/intermediate book on LaTeX

Hello!

What good book(s) on LaTeX would you recommend as an introduction and reference
for using LaTeX?

We are currently using LaTeX for automatic documentation generation.
We maintain several LaTeX documents and some generators that ouput
documentation in LaTeX format.
We do not write complex macros or styles and do not plan to do so.
But I am the only one with LaTeX experience, and
my venerable "LaTeX Eine Einführung" by Helmut Kopka is from 1988.

I need some information about
* what macros, document classes and styles are current, what are obsolete
* how to handle different languages (cyrillic ...) the right way
* and the basics (the \linebreak[..] and \emph{...} level) should be covered as well
(for me as an update, for my colleagues as the first source of information).

The book must be written in german (preferred) or english.

What is/are your favourite(s)? Thank you for your opinion.


Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Dr. Hartmut Niemann

Siemens AG
Infrastructure & Cities Sector
Rail Systems Division
Locomotives and Components
IC RL LOC EN LE 8
Werner-von-Siemens-Str. 67
91052 Erlangen, Deutschland
Tel.: +49 9131 7-34264
Fax: +49 9131 7-26254
mailto:[email protected]

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft: Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: Gerhard Cromme; Vorstand: Peter Löscher, Vorsitzender; Roland Busch, Brigitte Ederer, Klaus Helmrich, Joe Kaeser, Barbara Kux, Hermann Requardt, Siegfried Russwurm, Peter Y. Solmssen, Michael Süß; Sitz der Gesellschaft: Berlin und München, Deutschland; Registergericht: Berlin Charlottenburg, HRB 12300, München, HRB 6684; WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE 23691322

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