Sounds to me like both of those books were written for people with a basic technical grasp of programming and analysis...a much better choice for the total noob to programming would be one of the newer books that are *aimed* at that type of person. I mean, you can be taught a class by a boring old fart with a monotonous tone or you can be taught a class by an upbeat and energetic teacher...I bet we all know which one you'll listen to :-)