Hi Stevie,

One more book you may find of great help to a novice.

"Programing 8051 microcontroller" by I. Scott Mackenzy.

This indeed a very good book that takes the reader from simple concepts and make him really up his feet.

I had myself started with this from nothing and the good thing is that it does not insist the user to get into messy hardware right from the start. Rather it teaches the programing along with an understanding of the micro's architechture which is the key element for programing. Around our area this book is a part of electronics syllabus.

If you know electronics then just after six chapters you will be able to build moderate projects your own.

Myke Predko's is also a good one, but after you have learned from Mackenzy.

Try it

Simon


PS:

Above all don't forget regularly reading the tutorials on your left.