Did you use it to learn programming as a novice to the field? I have always wanted to learn programming as a hobby, but never really found the right entry point. Would you recommend this?
For hobby programming, Python is the best (unless you want to do web development in which case JavaScript is what you want). For Python, a really good book for beginners is Python Crash Course.
I would start with Python instead of C++, if you just want to learn a useful tool as a hobby. The official tutorial is a good starting point: https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html
This is a solid entry point, though you'll get more immediacy out of learn python the hard way. However starting with python (like I did) will 'leave things out' and Principles is great for filling those holes.