After fiddling around with 3ds Max 5 for a couple of months, with the aim of building my very own UT2003 character i had very limited success (well no success really!) enter Paul Steed....
This book and its conversational, anecdotal style sky-rocketed my knowledge in a matter of days! From being an absolute beginner at character modelling i now find myself pondering the complexities of improving the definition of my characters gluteus maximus!!!
the book has tons of pictures (B&W and some a little difficult to see clearly - only MINOR gripe) and it WILL help beginners.
forget printing pages and pages of net tutorials just buy this book, you will not look back. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it has exponentially increased my confidence and ability in all areas of max5, and i'm well on my way to my own UT2003 character!