Books are great! Listen to the people... but there is nothing like PRACTISE! And, of course, occasional on-line help... there are planty of helpers around here, including humble me :-) I can recommend open up an image you would like to play with and just start pushing the buttons all over :-) Remember, there is a History palette right above the Layers palette in a low right corner of your screen... you can click on an unwanted step in the list of steps you already made and delete them from this step on... very helpful thing. Also, there is a Fade function in Edit menu, I can recommend playing with its options anytime you applie something... you'll be amaised at how it lowers the stress of learning... and raises up your qualification, too :-) So, good luck! And push that damn button! :-)