Reddit reviews GIS Tutorial 1: Basic Workbook

The ESRI Press tutorial books are pretty good. I'm taking GIS courses through Penn Sate but it's been slow. I started supplementing my education with the GIS Tutorial 1: Basic Workbook

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/158948259X

Learn Python the Hard Way A great introduction to programming in Python designed for those newer to computer programming.

GIS Tutorial 1: Basic Workbook An introduction to GIS, but it covers a lot and a touches on a bit of everything in ArcMap10.

*Also you might get more answers in /r/askgis.

I have taken a few GIS classes in college and we used these books: http://www.amazon.com/GIS-Tutorial-1-Basic-Workbook/dp/158948259X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335239443&sr=8-2

Get the used one unless you need an ArcGIS key.

I could have more or less taught myself out of these books. It might be good to take a class if you can too, like I said I could have taught myself out of those books but it is awesome having a teacher so you can be like "how do I do this really obscure thing?". Once you get past the basics I would get in to model builder as it is REALLY USEFUL.

The ESRI website stuff is useful too, particularly their intros that introduce you to some of the most basic language. If you want to sound like a "pro" it really is best to be able to actually define what GIS is and to be able to correctly define and use words like "feature", "raster", and "vector"