Definitely pick up the book, but in the meantime, the Atkins web site has almost everything you need to understand the basics and get started. The only annoying thing is that every other hyperlink is to an Atkins product , but it's extremely informative. (Just don't get too excited about the ice cream just yet.)

1) Rules of Induction
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-325810.html

2) There is a Carb Gram Counter in the blue part of the left nav
bar. If you click it, there's a button to dowload a pdf. I printed
it out and keep it with me; it helped a lot getting started before I could get a book.

3)"You Don't Need to Count All Carbs the Same Way"
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-154769.html

4)FAQ
http://atkins.com/help/faqs/index.html

5)Eat your Veggies
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/26-666870.html

Best of luck,

Dorothy