books 2010: The Maya (7th edition), by Michael D. Coe
This book presents a good general overview of Maya history and culture, including geography, architecture, linguistics, diet, mythology, and calendar. It's nicely illustrated as well, mostly with black and white photos, but there were several pages of color inserts as well. Coe doesn't delve too deeply into any one city's history but builds a picture of the Maya era as a whole. Although the focus is on the Preclassic, Classic, and post-Classic eras, up to around 1200 AD, Coe also includes a chapter at the end on the modern Maya people and what their future may be. As an appendix there's a brief section on visiting Maya sites that I found very informative (considering that I plan on visiting some Maya sites in the near future). Recommended.