Originally posted here by intruder
Instead try "Hacking Exposed" according to me its the bible for those who want to know and learn something about hacking.
I disagree man. Hacking exposed just give us some technics nothing more,it dont teach you the philosophy of computer security. I think that the best for one newbie is the exploration of tutorials on the web of general for computing. Also reading of books such as Computer Networks of Tanenbaum and The C Programming Language of Kernighan & Ritchie and some other general books.After that will have the ability to read and adnvance security books.This is my opinion for the someone who wants to start learn about computer security.