I have always done my best learning by looking at examples, so when i began learning java, with my only previous programming experience coming from basic and pascale, i quickly jumped into search engines like JARS and a few others. This worked pretty well to a point, but i still needed a good reference. So i ordered Patrick Naughton's Complete Reference. The one i have is the second edition. (It's now in its third.) I found it a very good read, it will give a beginner a good start and it provides examples that even a geek will value. some other highly rated beginning java books are listed below. After learning Java fairly well, and broadening my outlook picking up C++, i happened upon a new operating system called BeOS. It's object oriented to the core, and very elegant to program. if you were ever daunted by the amount of code required to make a simple window in conventional OS's give BeOS a try, it's FREE. And it includes a compiler! You'll need the book below to get started: I'll add more books later, if you have any questions, contact me.