While these are fantastic and very detailed ingredient-oriented books, they don't really focus on the brewing process, especially for a newcomer. There are MANY fine "Intro to Homebrew" sorts of books available; I'd recommend Palmer's "How to Brew" or Papazian's "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" off the top of my head. Once you feel comfortable with the overall brewing process and understand ingredients in some context, you could plan to read them in this order: Malt, Yeast, Water, Hops. Actually, I suspect you'll jump around between them a lot.