I look for 3DS MAX reference or guide books for beginners and intermediates.
Any books you'd like to recommend?

Well this isnt a book but it has some pretty nice tutorials on it.
www.3dkingdom.org

If I remember correctly, the Studio Max Fundamentals book is pretty good for beginners to intermediates. I can’t remember if it is one big project that is broken up into smaller projects, or a bunch of small projects. Definitely worth looking at.

I'm really thinking this thread belongs in the 3D realm - moving it over to the graphics forums.

Yes the Studio Max Fundamentals is a really good book as dInferno mentioned. I know it has been used and recommended by many.

Not that I don't think you should go buy books but the web has some amazing resources and tutorials at many sites. Check community CG boards and etc.

Also the tutorials built into Max, especialy R5.xx and R6.xx are pretty awesome, most of the Character Animation ones where wrote by Micheal Comet who has done some pretty darn amazing stuff as far as animation goes as well as one of the best with character rigging.

I agree with Box. THere are thousands of great tuts (beginner and advanced) on the web. Some really good vid tuts as well.

Maybe check out the VTM's from 3D buzz(hxxP:\\www.3dbuzz.com). Litterally hundreds of hours of excellent Video Tutorials.