If you have never played a reed instrument before, I would get lessons for at least the first few months.

Rubank Elementary Book. Cheap, and possibly the best book around. It's been around for a long time, and a lot of private teachers use it. It also has an intermediate and advanced method, along with selected studies which are very challenging. I got mine for around $5.50. It's a much better book then those standards of excellence and essentianal elements. My teacher often says you can get 3 standards and elements into one Rubank. And they're much cheaper. Good Luck!

Yeah, definately get the Rubank Elementary book. It's great, and you'll really learn from it. Also, the town band here uses the Standard of Excellence book..it's geared more towards bands and not individual players, but it's good at teaching you the basics. I taught myself the sax for the first few months, and that's the book I used.