Baird is definately a good read. But, Cottle gave me more ah ha moments. Another good one to consider is Paul Forchione's "Trading Options Visually". I found a few of the adjustment examples helpful.
OK I have just purchased McMillan, having carefully compared it's contents with Natenberg... my feeling is that McMillan goes into more depth on the strategies. Natenberg is not a difficult book... quite the reverse, I feel that there is a significant amount of material missing in it... I feel that McMillan is a much more substantial work for beginners and something that will sit happily on one's bookshelf and always be referred to... Once I have sifted through the material in McMillan, I will graduate to Cottle's work, which most definitely takes things to a much higher conceptual level... When in the bookshop, I flipped through some of the other books (in addition to McMillan and Natenberg)... my conclusion is that they were either too simple for me (didn't go into the nuances and follow-through actions on the various strategies) or unnecessarily complicated -- at least for me -- in that they approached options from an overtly mathematical perspective, not needed for those who wish to trade vanilla strategies and/or those who wish to purchase (as oppose to write) their options software... So my optimal combo is: McMillan: Options as a Strategic Investment Cottle: Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda This is for someone who understands the basics of options... for neophytes, they may want to start at an even more rudimentary level than McMillan...