If I needed the money, I would try maybe $75 (for your books, no way I'm selling Old Farm, New Farm!!)?

ADD: Yeah I was so disappointed I almost cried! (Maybe that was the hormones…)

For very beginners, I'd recommend Sams' Teach Yourself series. It's very easy to pick up the basics of a programming language and usually towards the end of the book, you'll do something more advanced (such as Graphical User Interface or reading files over a network).

So you could get the "Teach yourself C++ in 21 days" …just to get a flavour of that language and how it's used. Once you get some confidence, try to get better in your chosen language. I don't know… some programming competition, a degree, work experience, creating a start-up?

If you want the real deal right from the start, get the book from the guy who invented C++, Bjarne Stroutstrup: "The C++ Programming Language (Third Edition)". It's completely different from the Sams book, you get more into the semantics, so you'll be learning a lot of fundamentals. The exercises in his book aren't easy, and you'll probably have to read some of the chapters more than once.

Use the link above…