If you already know programming, you need no book for Python, everything you need is at e.g. http://docs.python.org/reference/index.html http://docs.python.org/library/ On the other hand if you don't know how to program, you may have to start from another language which is commonly used to teach undergrads the concepts of programming. In my days this used to be Pascal but I'm sure people are using something better these days.