If I were going to recommend something to you it would be the following three things:

1) The SiLabs eval boards are great test, development and learning vehicles. I recommend the C8051F226DK as your first one. It turns out that the 'F226 part is probably the part from SiLabs that is closest to the bog standard 8051 in terms of resources and peripherals. Do not discount the data sheet for the SiLabs part used on this board. It will be a treasure trove of information about the part. These DEV kits also come with a CD that includes a learners version of the Keil C51 compiler which may be nice way for you to get some software tools to work with from the outset.

2) The book you linked to at Amazon will be a good learning tool for you. If your budget is not limiting you I would go for it. I had the opportunity to be a reviewer of this book before it was published and can attest to the content being good as a learning basis. Do be aware however that the hardware interfaces of the "standard type" 8051 MCUs that are a focus of the hardware parts of the book will only be found on some of the many 8051 type microcontrollers available today. Many others have gone the route of including all their code memory on-board as FLASH and their extended memory on board as RAM. The SiLabs family of parts falls into this latter category. Learning and using this latter type MCU is actually a good thing because that is the the prevalent type used in embedded designs these days.

3) Do not stop at one book. Pick out several and then read, read, and read some more. Do not hesitate to also go to several MCU vendor web sites and read through AppNotes (application notes) that they have posted that are applicable to the parts you are using. You will find these to contain a wealth of good information. SiLabs and NXP are two companies with a good selection of AppNotea.

Your are in for an interesting journey. Have fun.

Michael Karas

PS - Oh and #4. Comb through this web site. You will find an amazing amount of good stuff here. MJK