[aaronbrethorst]

I highly recommend buying a copy of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP), downloading Racket http://racket-lang.org, and learning you some Scheme (err, Racket).

I took a class centered around SICP my first term in college, and it was an incredibly enlightening experience.

[spacehome]

While SICP is a wonderful book and should be recommended, it is not meant as a tutorial on Scheme. SICP only uses Scheme to have some concrete language to talk about deeper themes. The grandparent might have better luck with a book that is about Scheme.