Of all the stuff that I've read in the last 2 years, this book was the one that helped me the most to get up to speed on verbage and basics:

[link]http://www.amazon.com/Home-Machinists-Handbook-Doug-Briney/dp/0830615733/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1250692648&sr=1-2#[/link]



I know it's for Sherline stuff, which is smaller than what I got, but the basics are there which apply to bigger things.

Also, the links Dennis put above look good as well, for getting one's feet wet.

Lance