Indy --
Count me as another naysayer. Machinery's Handbook is chock full of what-to-end-up-with, but there's scarcely a word of how-to-do-it. For that reason, I consider it far more appropriate for the person who already has a good grasp of machining practice.
My own choice for Best Beginners' Books are 1) a 1960-or-so edition Machine Tool Operation by Burghardt, Axelrod, & Anderson, and 2) Machine Shop Practice by Karl Moltrecht. Both are two-volume sets.
Machine Tool Operation has been out of print for a while, which means tracking down a used copy. Machine Shop Practice, which is going on thirty years old, is still in print and downright cheap as textbooks go . . . US$ 50 or thereabouts should get you both volumes from a mailorder bookstore or mailorder machine-shop supply house.
AND if you should stumble over a copy at a fair price, the spiral-bound Machinists' Ready Reference is a small volume that, for most people, has 95% of the day-to-day utility of Machinery's Handbook in an easier-to-use format. Back when I bought mine, Machinists' Ready Reference was common and cheap, but it doesn't seem to be that way today.
John