The book Managed DirectX 9 Kick Start: Graphics and Game Programming by Tom Miller showed up yesterday. This is really a fun read for me, I won't be using DirectX in my current position - it's just something I've wanted to learn.
I'm not a game programmer or 3d graphics expert (by a long shot), but I've done a lot of 2d graphics work in the past using the GDI and GDI+. So far the book is a fun read and good resource. I spent some time last night reading the book and I've found he does a nice job of explaining the setup, code and parameters. I've always found the setup to be the most confusing portion of DirectX and he does a nice job of sorting it out.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the book.