A review by tmbs
Learn Python the Hard Way: A Very Simple Introduction to the Terrifyingly Beautiful World of Computers and Code by Zed A. Shaw

3.0

I find text based games really boring and I didn't like the style the book is written in, nor the whole idea of typing all the code first and then getting an explanation after that.

I'd suggest to take a free Coursera course "An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python" instead. No need to install anything (everything runs in a browser), much better explanations of things, clear, fun and doable mini projects (a few card games, pong, asteroids with graphics and sounds!), community, etc.