Why do most people who make an effort to learn to code fail?

The answer is in the question: because they were trying to learn how to code.

Think about learning a language. Are you more likely to succeed if you decided to learn French just because you always wanted to learn another language or because you are moving to French for three months for work? Real projects....real "doing" approaches are how people know. That's what you should be looking for in a book. 

Something that is going to help you learn JavaScript without learning JavaScript. And the following are the 5 JavaScript books I am recommending.

1. A smarter way to learn JavaScript: The new approach uses technology to cut your effort in half, by Mark Myers.

This is my favorite JavaScript learning book by far. Why? It is 100% project-based. It takes a fundamental approach assuming nothing about your knowledge base but still gets as far as constructor functions.

This makes it very approachable and sets frequent breakpoints if you need to take a rest. This is a fantastic book. Try to learn from this book. 

This is a fantastic book to learn JavaScript and for building your skills in JavaScript.

2. JavaScript and jQuery: Interactive front end web development, by Jon Duckett:

You will learn some JavaScript and jQuery from this because it modernizes the way coding is taught...it looks good. Finally, someone figured that out. Nothing is more miserable, intimidating, and discouraging for a new coder than picking up a 1200 page book with nothing but typewriter looking text inside it.

The presentation is not just pretty. Its also well organized. It layers well and builds up to the next concept in a logical way. The transition to jQuery is natural and well done.

3. Eloquent JavaScript: A modern introduction to programming, by Marijn Haverbeke:

This is not a JavaScript book. As the title suggests, it is an introduction to programming and uses JavaScript. It is perfect for this reason. It is widespread to have a computer science student who doesn't know how to code JavaScript. 

This will help you to create a good computer science foundation through learning JavaScript.

4. JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, by Devid Flanagan:

If you get into coding books, you will start noticing this Color scheme cover. You will get more information than you need if you are just after learning the language. However, if you are looking for a tool that will remind you how closures works, prototyping, graphics, etc. This book is an excellent reference guide for people who are past the basics.

It will require you to want to learn how to program, which will require tenacity and motivation beyond an exclusively project-based approach.

This is an excellent resource, and you can learn so many things from this book.

5. Learn JavaScript Visually by Ivelin Demirov:

This runs in a similar vein to Jon Duckett's book above. It takes a very visual guide to learn the language. It is for absolute beginners and therefore isn't deep- and it's also relatively short. Recommended for newbies only.