Maybe YOU can't curl up by a fire and enjoy a good math book, but when I was young, I could. Alas, I'm old now, and can't even curl up anymore.
After a year of
online poker I bought my first book,
1000 Best Poker Strategies and Secrets. By Susie Isaacs. I bought it purely cause it was the cheapest book there that day. She cheated. It is 1000 short paragraphs each with a slightly different take on a situation. The situations evolve thru the book so she does make it through all the games with little tidbits of stuff I know, but often forget.
Then I bought
HoH. Probably need to reread them for the 3rd time.
But both sit next to me in the reading room, and I find that the 1000tips is what I pick to read. I can read thru 10 at a sitting, and get as much as reading thru a HoH hand or two.
SS, and SS2 are essential reading, but don't get SS if you don't have to. SS2 is the update. BTW, IMO, they are both overpriced.
For anyone contemplating buying their first book, I would suggest you read all of F. Paulsons stuff, and ChuckTs stuff here, Try for a month to play exactly what they say to play, not some variation, but exactly what they write. Work on understanding what it is they are saying. You can be sure you will very likely improve your game so much that the urge to buy a book will be diminished at least some.
After that month, you will still be a noob, but you will have your mind into the game in ways that defy description.