Photoshop Books suggestions?

[Quofalcon]

As title suggests I am lookin' for a book or two on Photoshop basics, tips'n tricks and the whatnots. I've been using Photoshop(7.0) for oh so little a time and I'm still a newb to the whole layout and special little tricks this baby can do. Lately I've been trying to trace some rough drawings scanned in, and have been trying to adjust the varying line qualities of the pencil/brush tool which I doubt I've tapped into much.
I'm only guessing 1px diameter size with the pencil tool is as fine of a thin line you can get in here, yet I'm hoping there's more to that. To me the 1px diameter pencil tool setting seems pretty 'thick' than I'd expect for a fine-line variation. Plus, still getting used to the whole eye-hand coordination with a tablet when it comes to tracing/redrawing a line. Hand gets shakey and that 'tisses me off.
Getting back to subject matter, I am looking for a book on Photoshop7 basics and advanced for illustration, painting and simular graphic creation.

Any suggestions or good resources on the matter, please do share! Much thanks y'all.

-Quo

[Mirana]

The Photoshop subforum will give you info catered to your needs for free.

1px is too large? Then you are working too small, my friend. Scan that baby in at a higher dpi! Also, not too sure the pencil tool will do you much good with line weight...try the paintbrush in grey.

[Hexokinase]

I can't suggest any books, but I can suggest that you just practice tinkering with the software. Shouldn't take you more than a month to learn most of the basics.

When seeking book references, what's important is knowing what you want to get out of the program. If you plan on doing digital paintings with very mild use of photo touch-ups, then I wouldn't bother with a book.

You're correct about 1 px being the thinnest line you can get. To the best of my knowledge, most people prefer to use the round brush as opposed to the pencil tool (aliasing issues - I may be wrong though). You can manually adjust the size of any brush by simply right clicking and moving the slider to the desired size.

If you find the 1 px brush to be too thick, then your image is probably too small. Adjust the image size to compensate.

When accuracy becomes an issue, zooming in and out can be your friend.

[VulgarDragon]

"Photoshop for Dummies"

No, I am not kidding...it is really a great book if you are new to PS. It helps you to get familiar with many of the basics.