[Tutor] Python Beginner Book Advice

[David Lowry-Duda]

Hello Pete!

> I don’t know whom to contact, but please let me know whom to contact
> if you don’t know the answer to my problem.

Welcome to the exciting world of python! You have found a right place 
for asking for help.

> Also I have been looking around  Automate the Boring Stuff, Python 
> Crash Course, and Invent your own Games  with Python. Do you recommend 
> to buy all three of these books for my create task, or stick to one or 
> two?

The books you have chosen are each a good start. But instead of getting 
all three (or even two of them), I suggest that you choose one and work 
through it. If you fully work through it, then move onto a second book.

I would suggest that you start with Automate the Boring Stuff. 
Conveniently you can start right now, since the author has made it 
freely available online. (If you like it, it would be good to perhaps 
send him a dollar or two).

And remember --- one doesn't learn to program by reading about how 
others program. It is necessary for you to write code, think about what 
you're writing, and to experiment.

A good follow up book is Think Python (which also happens to be made 
freely available online by the author). This happens to be quite a good 
book not just about python, but about programming.

And just so that it's all in one place, I'll note that perhaps the best 
intermediate python book is Fluent Python (not free --- but an excellent 
book). But this is not a book for the beginner, since the idioms it 
teaches and goes over are there to sharpen skills and intuition as 
opposing to forging the blade.

Good luck!

- DLD

-- 
David Lowry-Duda <david at lowryduda.com> <davidlowryduda.com>