One of the great things about the python community is that there are a lot of free and helpful tutorials online. I'll post some best links soon.
Online tutorials and documentation are great, however, it's often essential to have a desk reference
available. This
one is essential:
Python
in a Nutshell
Python the software language is named after the language's creator's fondness for the Monty Python
comedy troupe--
so picking up the
The
Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset
box set might actually help you understand a cryptic comment in the documentation
(should you ever
find one).
Lisp is a great language, however it's interesting that the great Peter Norvig is now more often partnering up with Python.
The Artificial
Intelligence: A Modern Approach
book has source code implementations available in Lisp and Python.
Visit his site and learn more.
Oreilly's
Programming
Collective Intelligence
is chock full of good Python applications and
approaches.