Adam Osborne from Osborne & Assoc. wrote a number of highly readable perfect bound books in the mid 70s in his Introduction to Microcomputers series. Volume I "

Adam Osborne from Osborne & Assoc. wrote a number of highly readable perfect bound books in the mid 70s in his Introduction to Microcomputers series. Volume I "Basic Concepts" covers everything from gates and truth tables to common assembly language instructions. Later volumes targeted assembly language for specific processors of the day such as the 8080 and 6502. I learned to program from these books (and K&R). Osborne & Associates went on to sell a portable CP/M machine that was very bulky and heavy but earned the right to be called portable.