Short and clear. An ancient Buddhist text aimed at ordinary folk. It won me over and gave me a new way of seeing.
I read the Dhammapada by accident. I was stuck in a hotel in Hyderabad. I had nothing to do but, if I had the courage to cross a busy road, there was a bookshop on the other side. I wanted a short book – something that I could finish in a couple of evenings before I left for Delhi. So I bought the Dhammapada mostly because it looked thin on the shelf, and I read it from beginning to end in a single session.
I recommend the edition by Eknath Easwaran, if you can find it.