I'm currently reading it. It gives a rather basic C introduction (I skipped it) but then it goes into explaining how to inject shell codes, using buffer overflows and getting deep into the assembly of programs. It's definitely great for a start.
I'm reading it now, too. There are a lot of examples (it comes with a VM), but the book is still more conceptual than hands-on. The exploit-exercises site posted above looks pretty good.
The second edition is even better. It skips many chapters from the first edition that you don't really need and it goes into more detail in other more important ones to what OP is asking.
