I've not read Papazian and I've only perused parts of the online-version of How To Brew (which looks very strong, and seems to be the consensus intro reference at the moment).
I got my start with Miller's Homebrewer's Guide.
In my "reference" library I have the following, listed in the order that I would recommend them for someone getting started. I find all of them useful.
Homebrewer's Guide, Dave Miller -- A good overall reference covering extract, all grain, ales, lagers, kegging, bottling, fermentation. I like that for each major step in brewing he has two chapters: a "what's going on from a scientific/technical standpoint", and "what am I doing here from a practicum standpoint" Not a perfect book, but pretty strong, imo.
New Brewing Lager Beer, Greg Noonan -- This is
the reference for brewing lagers, imo.
Designing Great Beers, Ray Daniels -- This book is a virtual necessity for learning to develop your own recipes, but I think it is a good book for anyone to read who wants to understand some of the major styles from both a recipe and historical standpoint. An excellent book. My biggest "complaint" with this one is that it doesn't cover every style.
Brewing Classic Styles, Palmer/J.Z. -- I haven't actually brewed any recipe out of this book yet, but there's a wealth of information about every BJCP style, how to brew it well to style, and a proven recipe to examine. Good book.
Analysis of Brewing Techniques, George Fix -- This book focuses on the scientific aspects of brewing. A good read if you are intrested in that sort of thing. I am, so...
Using Hops, Garetz -- This book has quite a bit of information about hops from how they are farmed and processed, how to use and store them, how to calculate bitterness impact, right through to how to grow your own. There is also a section about common varieties: name, region, general alpha, charactaristics, and substitutions. But this section doesn't have many of the newer varieties such as Amarillo, Zues, Sterling, and others. A decent book, but somewhat dated.
Radical Brewing, Mosher -- I like Mosher's style. Period.
Brew Like a Monk, Hieronymous -- I just picked this up and haven't finished it yet, but this is the consensus book for anyone interested in Belgian styles...
I didn't really mean to type that much!