Game programming books

I am still a rookie game programmer. I have done a small amount of 2D Blitz Basic programming, using the Visual Blitz IDE, but that is all I have done. I am an experienced Java programmer, so in my continuing program to get to the point that I can do some game programming, I purchased Jonathan Harbour's book Beginning Java 5 Game Programming. Last week, my wife bought me a book called The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners, by Jacob Habgood and Mark Overmars (a Dutch professor). I am interested in developing simulation-style naval wargames for 17th Century naval gaming. I at least have the continuing delusion that I might have something to contribute on the subject. I suspect that my first effort will be 2D, not 3D, due to the difficulty of generating 3D models.