I've been looking for a good introductory/beginner book on Java to read. What would you recommend? I have heard mixed reviews about certain books like the "Java For Dummies."

This is how I taught myself Java before I moved on to standard Java. The material taught and explained in the video will make you a good programmer and is of most importance in writing good code. They use a different Java library and also use some of the standard Java libraries.

I also recommend you take notes and code and make sure the concepts are fully understood before moving onto the next video. The topics covered will take you much further in learning other new programming languages.

Note: Stanford don't use or explain the main method until the later parts of the course which would be between lecture 26 and 28.

This is how I taught myself Java before I moved on to standard Java. The material taught and explained in the video will make you a good programmer and is of most importance in writing good code. They use a different Java library and also use some of the standard Java libraries.

I also recommend you take notes and code and make sure the concepts are fully understood before moving onto the next video. The topics covered will take you much further in learning other new programming languages.

Note: Stanford don't use or explain the main method until the later parts of the course which would be between lecture 26 and 28.

Okay this looks pretty good. However, what worries me is that this looks like an old lecture. Shouldn't I be looking for the newest lessons/tutorial possible so new features of Java in JDK7 aren't left out?

If you specifically want books, I believe there is a list of suggested books somewhere on this site, perhaps someone can link that. My recommendation would be

Java SE7 Programming Essentials. If you're looking for a video tutorial, try going on youtube and looking up either TheNewBoston Or MyBringBack.

---EDIT---

http://www.gamedev.net/page/books/index.html