Hi M2M, I used Bob Greene's (Oprah's trainer) book The Total Body Makeover when I started using free weights. I use 5 pound weights for all my upper body work and probably will not go higher than that. His regime is available online for a pretty decent cost at: if you're interested.
He's got beginner, intermediate and advanced levels and before the computer results in your 12 week plan, it asks questions about height, weight, resting heart rate, previous activity level, etc. What I like about the online version as opposed to the book, is there's virtual reality pictures of people actually doing the weights, so if I don't understand how a particular exercise goes, I can clearly see someone doing it. Dumb-dumbs like me need pictures. Ha ha.