I am looking for possibilities and suggestions when it comes to being a new self editor. Can one jump right in to CS5 with an instruction book that covers the spectrum? Is there a book that does this?

I have found the books by Scott Kelby to be very helpful.

I have one of his on Lightroom. To refine the question is a book such as CS5 for Dummies adequate for someone of limited photoshop knowledge.

By far the best book for our genre of photography is Photoshop CS5 For Nature Photographers by Ellen Anon and Josh Anon

Thanks. Is it beginner friendly?

Scott Kelby's books are easy to follow. Some people do not like Kelby personally but I'd suggest go check out the books first before you dismiss them. They're beginner friendly and in a beginner friendly format

You should not limit yourself to books that have the words "nature photography", "bird photography", or "wildlife photography", etc. in its title, IMO. You learn the same things from any Photoshop books.

Thoughts from a long suffering beginner at PS: PS books put me to sleep on page 3, or sooner.

You might take a look a some of the http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-training-tutorials/279-0.html videos. They currently list 126 training videos on PS with 81 classified as photography.

Cecil - If you're looking more for ACR help, rather than PS (and I found that once I really got into RAW development, I didn't edit very much in straight PS), I'd recommend the Luminous Landscape ACR Tutorial Videos. They're excellent.

Thanks everyone.