Recomendations.

I´m not sure about this being fairly easy, but I will recomend:

Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2
by Bruce Fraser & David Blatner

For beginners, I'm a big fan of Scott Kelby's books, and I assume he had one for CS2. They are a bit more folksy in writing style, which some people don't like, but the important thing is that they guide rather than list a set of techniques. You actually learn how to use the tools to do something, as opposed to learning all about the tools. After you have mastered Kelby's lessons, you can move on to books that give you a better understanding of Photoshop, like the one referenced above.

I second Jeff's recommendation.
I have a couple of his books, one for CS3 and another for lightroom.
Working through the examples helped me out a lot getting a handle on photoshop.

I am also a big fan of Kelby's books. For me, let's face it, how to photoshop/lightroom books are about the most boring things to read. Kelby keeps it fun (or folksy) like Jeff said. But, he still gets all the information in to get started....well, actually to get very far along....and hints at enough to wet your appetite for proceeding further. His are a general overall type learning process, you then buy "higher level" books to hone your skills in certain areas.

for instance, i buy Kelby's (ex) Photoshop CS3 for Photographers and Lightroom for Photographers.....then I buy Real World Camera RAW by Fraser, Welcome to Oz by Vincent Versace, Mastering Black and White Digital Photography by Michael Freeman.....to expand my knowledge of certain aspects of digital photography and digital darkroom techniques.

Thankyou for responses, i will take a look at the suggestions.