I bought the book "Intel Microprocessors" by B. Barry for almost one month or so. The first time I saw the thickness of the book I thought it would take me a long long time to finish. It surprised me that sometimes one thick book wouldn't take you too long to finish reading, especially you read it selectively.
As some reader's comments, this book takes too much on the old, outdated chips. As a pragmatist, I prefer the chips that are popupar in PCs. But anyways, this book is really perfect for the newbies to understand the basic mechanism of the chips and the instructions. Fortunately, I've got high mark on these lessions in college so I don't feel it blocks me : )