Reddit mentions of How to Cheat in Maya 2014: Tools and Techniques for Character Animation

Start with Eric Goldberg's book "Character Animation Crash Course!"

http://www.amazon.com/Character-Animation-Crash-Course-Goldberg/dp/1879505975

It reads a lot less like the stereo instructions that is Richard Williams's "Animator's Survival Kit" providing for a much more accessible and lighter introduction to animation. If, after you've read through it, you find that animation is still for you then absolutely 110% get Richard Williams's book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/086547897X/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0MV2H6MZNC3HHHH1ED43

Another must have is "The Illusion of Life".

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786860707/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1S91BNCH9AFXPJQCA1HH

Always keep in mind that the word animate means "to give life to." You are bringing a character to life be it a drawing or a 3D model. Before even touching paper and pencil (because you thoroughly plan your scene out that way first before touching the mouse ;-) ask yourself "what is the character thinking?" Get inside that character's head. Sketch out exploratory poses. They don't have to be gorgeously rendered drawings. They are your visual notes and can even be stick figures just so long as you can read them. Get away from your desk and physically act out what your character has to do or hit up YouTube for research. Shoot reference with your smartphone (use an app like ProCamera which lets you shoot at 24fps) and analyze how long it takes you to perform an action. Don't sweat the software just yet. That's the technical stuff that comes later. Animators are actors and it's important to understand acting first. That being said, this book is great for learning Maya.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0415826594/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1453026213&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=how+to+cheat+in+maya+2015&dpPl=1&dpID=51IrWwVyubL&ref=plSrch

This book combines learning to animate in Maya while simultaneously teaching the 12 principles of animation. The very best of luck to you in the beginning of your animation journey. Take your time and practice everyday. Think of animation as a muscle. You have to workout everyday for it to get stronger even if you only work on something for 15 minutes a day.

Stop Staring is an excellent face rigging book.

How to Cheat in Maya is another good one.

Maya Studio Projects Texturing and Lighting is another sold book.

That should get ya started!

Hi, sorry for the late response

Maya is definitely the right place to start if your looking at 3d animation. (http://blog.animationmentor.com/5-reasons-why-3d-animators-should-know-autodesk-maya/)
Im sure you can find plenty of basic tutorials on using maya and getting familiar with its work space, though as an animator you'll only need a very rudimental knowledge of the software.
Learning other things like modeling, rigging texturing ect will make you more employable but mostly with smaller companies where you need a more generalist skill set. Bigger studios everyone will have very specialist roles so no one will care if your show reel has no lighting. Maya is a very powerful piece of software so just stick to learning one thing at a time.

Since you are just starting out i would recommend this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Cheat-Maya-2014-Techniques/dp/0415826594/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451708861&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+cheat+in+maya

Its a great book to learn with as it keeps things simple with clear instructions so you can gain a basic understanding of the principles in animation whilst letting you get familiar with maya.
The 11 second club also has a lot of good resources such as these exercises if you want to get started right away
http://www.11secondclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=19776

The resources tab has a list of good free rigs as well though a full body rig would most certainly be very hard for a begginer to animate

Animation takes a lot of time to learn so feel free to post more questions. Good luck and have fun with it. If you find its something you want to pursue more then i would look at books like "The animators survival kit" or "acting for animators" and "timing for animation"