My friend Garman Herigstad has just released his first Gnomon DVD for Houdini, I strongly encourage everyone to buy a copy and take a look at this piece of awesome tool. It's designed for beginner so you should be able to get up to speed even you don't have much experience about houdini at this moment.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=66
let's learn Houdini!