If you're still stuck on pointers (although sounds like you eventually got past it), Kernighan and Ritchie have a very no-nonsense, straightforward presentation of the concept.
Of course, the basic concept of a pointer is not really that tricky. It's how to use them, what you can do with them, and how to avoid accidentally shooting off your foot with them that are the tricky parts.
Anyhow, if you know any other programmers who want to understand pointers, I don't think you can go too far wrong pointing them towards Kernighan and Ritchie.
I, for one, found the arrays and pointers chapter in K&R Edition 1 to be mostly useless (per my other comment in this subthread I used the Lions Notes). Do you know if it was significantly improved in the 2nd Edition you recommend?
I happen to have both editions handy. Some sub-sections seem to be 30%-50% rewritten. A big change is there are lots of graphics. 2e seems to be improved, but it's hard for me to estimate how much of an improvement it really is.
I scanned the first couple of pages again in the PDF, and still like the simplicity of the presentation, avoiding indirect metaphors ("a pointer is kind of like...").
I never got a copy of Lions, unfortunately. Seems a shame to not have more books in that style.
Hmmm, I read the first N pages of 2nd Edition of the chapter and it sure looks clear and good to me, and one area where I found it confusing looks like it was improved (but who can say 33 years later?). I won't make an anti-recommendation of this edition, but would be curious if anyone has problems with it.
http://books.cat-v.org/computer-science/c-programming-langua...
See chapter 5. Starts with a nice little picture.
Of course, the basic concept of a pointer is not really that tricky. It's how to use them, what you can do with them, and how to avoid accidentally shooting off your foot with them that are the tricky parts.
Anyhow, if you know any other programmers who want to understand pointers, I don't think you can go too far wrong pointing them towards Kernighan and Ritchie.