New to SEO and the Forum

Hey guys, my name is Jeremy, I am a 23 year old professional MMA fighter, and besides fighting I do not really have any job skills(I can flip a mean burger though) after reading some Tim Ferriss stuff, living with a tech guy who has some success with his blog and as the CEO of a small publishing company designed with a single New York Times Bestseller in mind, I have realized one thing: I need to get some "geek" skills if you will. I know how to effectively operate a computer, and that is about it.
I have two questions that I would love to get some feedback on:
1) Starting from scratch, are there any specific books you suggest I read or any skills I should bump to the top of my "to learn" list?
2) As far as SEO(which originally got me interested in learning tech skills) keep in mind I know nothing outside of a few articles I read last night, how would you suggest I go about learning this skill and then translating it into gigs, jobs, or whatever. Should I just go into super study mode, or take a course or what?

Thanks guys, I was trolling for a few hours before I joined up and the place is legit, full of the type of people I need to be around to soak up knowledge. See you all around the forums.