I've always used Carol Barratt, but fancy a change to give myself a bit of variety!!! I have a lady starting next week, aged about 40, learning because she's been inspired by her daughter learning. She has no musical knowledge whatsoever.

I always use Michael Aaron Adult piano course. It's one of the best books I've ever come across.

Pianoworks, Book 1 by Janet and Alan Bullard is excellent for the older beginner and has a CD. Also, It's Never Too Late by Pam Wedgwood, this has a CD as well, but goes at a quicker pace so the learner needs to be pretty able.

I've used lots of different books over the years, but after a lot of research and review-reading, I've now settled on the Hal Leonard Adult Piano Method. It's good because it combines a decent mix of technique, theory, exercises and pieces in a straightforward way.

Alan Haughton does a good book for adults, it is analagous with his children's tutor books. It has a CD and goes a good steady pace for non-musical adults. I've had good results with it, and avoid Carol Barratt now as being too fast.

I find many adults have stalled at an early stage with an adult course, and I no longer use them. I have twice now started an adult on Alfred Premier - designed for kids but not overtly childish - and in both cases they took the book away to try out and came back having finished it a week later! - so I started them on the second book. One, who also plays from Classics to Modenrs and now also an old grade 1 book, has (on loan) the fourth Alfred book (level 2B), together with the theory book in case she wants to reinforce anything, and when we come to a piece she really doesn't fancy, we just don't do it, having made sure we have covered the learning objective in it (which we had often done in the other books anyway).

I do have a quick learner age 12 who is currently taking grade 1 ABRSM and we use both the lesson book and the performance book, and move through them in parallel: I make sure he's heard the pieces in both of them for whatever stage we've reached, but I can then leave it up to him which of them he wants to work on and which of them don't appeal. It works well with him.