Yes. Hell yes. If someone is starting programming, then Learn Python the Hard Way is the best book I know of. It doesn't swamp you with words, nor with code; it gives you some stuff to type in at the Python prompt, and figure out as you go. It's like a series of puzzles that are each really easy to solve, and once you get through them, you'll be thinking like a programmer.
I've taught an intro to programming class, and seen where the problems are, and beheld the glaring deficiencies in most textbooks. LPtHW is a Right Thing. It boils with rightness.
You can buy a hard copy, or read it online (PDF).
I would like to learn programming but haven't been able to get started. Advice appreciated, both high-level (you should try learing language X) and low level (you can find a program that will run language X here), the latter has been a particular problem for me, I don't really know how this sort of thing works.
I am currently studying maths and physics, and I have a particular talent for the former, so I would probably do well with a language that plays to that strength. My only actual experience with programming was when my father let me play around with Jython a bit when I was about 13, I had some fun calculating prime numbers and approximating pi but never got any farther.
Thanks in advance for all suggestions.