UNIX in a nutshell would not be the greatest book for a noob. It is more of a quick reference book so if your new to UNIX then you would not be able to look up what command you need since you do no know them. I have a great book for UNIX noobs that I can recommend but it will have to wait till later today when I go to work so I can get the name and author for you.

Until then I also would recommend this book for noobs:
UNIX system administration handbook by Evi Nemeth, Garth Synder, Scott Seebass, Trent R Hein