Quote from optioncoach:
I basically only follow hammers dojis and the combo called evening star or morning star. I think you can find out about those online for fre if you google candlesticks and look for those patterns instead of getting a whole book on the subject.
Suri's new book also has a lot of patterns based off of candlesticks as well as price action which you can use either candles or bar but he mianly uses candles.
But for good books, Nisson I guess is the main author of candlestick books but I know there are two recent titles that focus on trading candlestick patterns which are more specific. I think Bigelow is one but I may be forgetting.
I think 2 or 3 patterns are good to know because they represent price action well (hammer or evening star) but the rest like 3 wise clouds or Praying Mantis taking a shit or some of the other wierd names get a little too far out there.
For example that evening star happens rarely so you do not get a lot of fake signals or churning and it helps to really look at why it works with respect to the price action.