This thread... it actually came out OK. Thank you, OP.
Well, SICP is a great book, and I can't really recommend a Python book as I haven't read many, but Learn Python the Hard Way is usually praised, it's concrete and full of carefully selected exercises:
http://learnpythonthehardway.org/index
The MIT also has its somewhat SICP inspired lectures using Python online, but they lost some of their punch with the change of profs and language.