....
I'm thinking I want a nice book (or set of books), I don't much care
for video tapes, and some giant pool of sample tests would be
wonderful (even better would be a CD/software package that would gin
up sample tests for me to take out of some pool of questions). Seems
like searching for opinions on that would be easy, but I've only
gotten more confused in the searching.

Thanks for any guidance,

Brian

Since I'm a book person myself, here's my opinion on the books I used
for my instrument knowledge:

Gleim - great for passing the test - get it, use it, never look at it again.

The Art of Instrument Flying - a very readable book that's very good at
conveying knowledge even if you haven't studied any other instrument
stuff yet. It has some good practice maneuvers also. I sat
down and read this book cover to cover before starting my instrument
lessons, practiced the maneuvers some, and feel it really helped a lot.
My favorite for a 'first' instrument rating book.

The Completed Advanced Pilot - by our newsgroups own Bob Gardner, I consider
this my 'post-graduate' book - a great source of knowledge and reference
even after obtaining your license. Covers commercial rating as well.

Instrument Flying Handbook by Rod Machado - entertaining, and with some
good stories and alternate ways of learning things. Worth reading, but
for me at least it didn't convey knowledge or serve as reference material
as well as the previous two.

Good luck!

--
Allen Johnson
PP-ASEL-IA