There's been a few people recently asking for "startup tutorial" type of information about electroincs. One source of information is the library, often libraries will sell off old books to make room for new ones. I have picked up some very useful (if somewhat tattered and outdated) textbooks from my local tech college.
You can often find places that sell "over supplied" books very cheaply too. If a book is superseeded, or the print run exceeded sales, the "remainders" are often sold cheaply at auction, and the on-sold to us for next to nothing via a 2nd hand book dealer.
Also, the internet is overflowing with electronic information. Be warned that not all of it is GOOD or CORRECT information! Here's a couple of places I've found that have been useful to me, I hope others will find them helpful!
http://www.tpub.com
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/electronicaopening.htm
http://www.epanorama.net/links/psu_linear.html
http://www.electronics-tutorials.com/
What other gems are lurking in peoples favorites folders?!?!
About the only advantage that the underfunding of public libraries brings is that many books are old and out of print. My local library (though in all fairness they have plenty of recent books) has some excellent stuff, all relating to the golden age of trannies etc.
epanorama.net has A LOT of useful information on it. I've used that one more than once.
This one is kind of helpful, too: http://geofex.com/lektronix.htm