Only about 40% of people who sell their services actually know what they're doing. Life's ultimate sidequest is finding the competent ones and relying on them for everything.

I've been there. Usually, books (alone) don't help much w/o hands-on exp. I would echo others to take project-based classes at a woodworking store, like Woodcraft/Rockler. IIRC, Rockler has an intro to power tools one. Then pick a small project, get tools for it, and make mistakes. Rinse, repeat.