My practice took off after reading Dr John Yates (Culadasa) "The Mind Illuminated". He is well versed in Pali texts and I believe he was a professor of neuroscience at Univ of Arizona.

I wish I could read the original Suttas in Pali but my language command is almost non-existent. So I have to rely on English translations by monks like Bhikku Bodhi and Bhikku Analayo.