I spent 30+ years in the building trades and have pretty much done it all from pouring the footings to pounding the shingles (right now I am putting a new roof on my home).  And I was lucky because growing up in the Midwest I had plenty of good teachers.  You see in Minnesota we had a strong migration of people from the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, etc) and these tradesman were well known for their homebuilding skills and if one of the old-timers liked you they would take you under their wing and show you the tricks of the trade you wouldn't learn in any books.

But even with all that knowledge there are still things to learn.  One of my favorite magazines has always been the Family Handyman.  In every issue they have tips, tricks and projects that not only make sense but clearly show you how to do it.  However you need to be careful...with me I try to keep my wife from reading it because it never fails, she starts picking out projects and says, "I want you to make this, and this, and this..."  Don't get me wrong, I love building things but with my schedule I don't have time to do them all.