There are 3 Blender books out there. I've got the first two, and yes, learning Blender is really all about memorizing the hotkeys. It's a lot easier now than it used to be with the hotkey search function. From scratch though, I think you're best off with the books. I'm sure you can still find them online, maybe at amazon. The 2nd one is available in downloadable format now though and that can save you a few bucks.