The O'reilly book "Learning Python", Mark Lutz is not a bad book to have (over 1160 pages!).
I have also"Beginning Python", James Payne. Too shallow for my liking.
There are excellent treatments on the net. I usually start with google.com and find what I need.
Perhaps as a beginner you should start with Python 3.x, but lots of software is still based on 2.6. There are a lot of annoying differences between them.
I have programmed professionally in dozens of program languages, mostly learned "on the job". Don't be afraid of another language, it is just the local rules that vary most.
If you are cooperating in a team, ask them what they use. Eases tapping the existing collective knowledge.