I would start with Newton's book.............
http://www.amazon.com/Explosive-Lift...d_i=0736041729
It's much better than either of the ones you mentioned for beginners IMO.
Kono's book is great, but a great deal of it is about his weightlifting career.
TWE is just that, an encyclopedia. It's very dense and I have yet to get all the way through it.