Despite all the great videos and tutorials you have easy access too thanks to the magic of the internet, books are still hard to beat when it comes to learning. In the early days Swift books were tough to find, mostly because it took time for people to learn the language well enough too then write a book on it! Now this is changing quickly and each week it seems like there is a new book, be it beginner or advanced, being released on Swift.
The ones I have picked below are either based on my experience using them, overwhelming regard for it by the Swift community, the authors reputation and previous experience, or a combination of all three. So without further ado here they are.
Swift Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide by Matthew Mathias and John Gallagher
Big Nerd Ranch is a bit of a juggernaut when it comes to books on helping you learn iOS, Swift, Cocoa for OSX and probably much more that I haven’t even seen yet. While I did not read this book, it consistently gets great reviews and feedback from those who have, and is a constant top recommendation by people of all experience levels. So if you liked any other Big Nerd Ranch books, or just want to pick something that is a safe bet and a good price then you probably won’t go wrong with this book.
The Swift Programming Language by Apple
Unsurprisingly Apple has published its own official guide to Swift. There are a couple things to note with it. One, when Swift is updated so too is this book, so you can be sure you are getting the most recent information. Two, while it is not the easiest read for a beginner (especially if you do not have programming experience), it is a must read nonetheless. Everything they cover is important and even if you don’t understand everything the first time you read it you will at least get introduced to the multitude of concepts you will need to know down the line.
You can download this as either a PDF, or there is an html version you can access online from any device. It is free and this is one of those resources everyone should read at least once when they are starting out.
Beginning iOS 9 Programming with Swift
This is one of the books that I have used and it did a nice job going through iOS development in Swift in an easy to follow, and logical, direction. The fundamentals of the book are strong and for someone looking for structure to take them on their learning journey this will do the trick nicely. Where this differs from most other books is that there are multiple tiers from which you can choose. If you want just the beginner book, you can get that, but if you also want it bundled with the intermediate level book, you can get that too, or further add on design templates and online support. For someone just starting out I don’t know if getting one of the full packages makes a lot of sense, but it is an option for those that think it would be helpful.
Your First Swift App by Ash Furrow
What makes this book really interesting is that its track is based on the idea of creating, building, and submitting, as the title says, your first Swift/iOS app. There might be lots of other books out there that take the same approach with Objective-C, but this is the first one I have seen that does so with Swift. In that sense it is very practical and hands on and will give readers a real sense of what the whole app building process is like. I have not yet read this book, but Ash has a longstanding reputation as being a great programmer and developer, and has published other books in the past, so it is written with experience and authority behind it. The book is e-book only, but it is on LeanPub so the price is very affordable and it sends a large majority of the money spent on the book directly back to the author.
The Swift Developers Cookbook by Erica Sadun
This is not what you get when you are first starting to learn the basics. It is what you get when you have some basic knowledge and want to get introduced to some of the more fundamental and advanced concepts of programming in Swift. This book really focuses on the programming aspect so that you can create great code under the hood of your program. It is well righten so the subject matter is approachable, but it will still challenge you at times. This is one of those books where if you can really master much of what is discussed in it then you are giving yourself a great platform to build from!
Manitoba Ninja 
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