Mono = same in both channels. Stereo has slight differences in each channel, and can include different instruments panned to different sides of the mix. Also, recording in stereo gives a more spacious, three-dimensional sound.
Mono is essentially when all the soundwaves coming from a given source (e.g. guitar) are in phase; stereo is when the soundwaves coming from a source are slightly out of phase. Imagine mono as being recorded with a single mic in a room, so all the soundwaves reach the mic at the same time; imagine stereo as being recorded with several mics around the room, so the soundwaves reach the different mics at different times. What stereo sound produces is a feeling of space; just like music sounds different as you walk around a venue during a live performance, music will sound different if you walk around your house if you have two speakers playing stereo. On the other hand, if you were to walk around your house as music was playing mono through two speakers, it would sound the same, except that volume would change based on your proximity to the speakers. Almost every recording of the past four decades is in stereo.
I of course prefer stereo. However, there are some albums that have either abused stereo or tried to use mono to replicate a stereo effect (I can't tell). You can hear this on some albums when you listen to a song with both headphones on/in and can hear everything perfectly, and then you remove a headphone from one of your ears and certain aspects of the song become incredibly quiet or become inaudible completely. This usually happens on albums recorded in the late 60s and early 70s (though I've heard it on albums as recent as the 00s), but the only example that comes to mind right now is VU's White Light/White Heat.
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