michele bousquet is the best the rumour is she helped design 3ds max before autodesk took it over from discreet, so i would look up some of her books the problem is as 3ds max is an animation program and modeling program so you would not able to stay away from animation, most books contain animation.
it also depend on what you are wanting to do with 3ds max, i cannot recommed any really because we mite be in different industries like most of us on here.
i would recommed buying book second hand, there is never going to be a book that can teach you everything about max because that is impossible, i would first check out youtube which has some great tutorials and the reference files that come with 3ds max under the help tutorials.
you would need to go down to some big bookshops that you know sell 3ds max books not just buy them online because you mite not like them, look through the books and find them in your own language if english is not your first language if you like them then you can go online and find them second hand.
we all get taught oneway or another you're still learning whether it is in a book or going to school, I guess most of us are shelf-taught, but as you know you cannot pick up a program in a day, months or year, it will take sometime to learn the ins and out of max,
most newbies think they can learn 3ds max in a day which is not possible, and they give up, so i would recommed just getting used to the program!
