To understand a lot of basic stuff in a simple and very effective way the "Javascript: The good parts" from Douglas Crockford is really good at about 160 pages.

To understand a lot of basic stuff in a simple and very effective way the "Javascript: The good parts" from Douglas Crockford is really good at about 160 pages. It lays down the origins of the language and a lot of its quirks. http://javascript.crockford.com http://javascript.crockford.com