Wow, you seem to be jumping in to faster waters than most new photographers.
As I took up photography again (had a darkroom MANY years ago) only a year ago, here are some things that I'd suggest. Sorry to seem simplistic, but manuals for cameras and software need to be read carefully more than once. Not a lot of fun.
See if there's a photo networking group nearby. Where I am there's a COPA group for example. Google them for your area perhaps. Maybe call the local community college or art college to see if there's a group.
I personally find that there isn't a single technical book that works completely for me so I have a fairly large number. I just go to the store with the most available, which happens to be Borders in this area, and look them over. I don't think you can do this just with Amazon and I don't think you can do this just with book reviews.
Ideally you'll find a seasoned pro to mentor you. I've been very fortunate in this regard. One thing he emphasized early on is to just go out and take a lot of pictures, mind you trying to know what I was trying to achieve. The idea is learning from mistakes and if that's the key boy have I had a lot of opportunities.
Good luck!

I think people have trouble knowing what your questions are because you are just learning what they are yourself; hence the shortage of responses. We know that there is a lot you have to learn and we don't know what to focus on.
Still, two other points in your question strike me. One is the purpose you mention. It sounds as if you want to do macro work, in which case you may not have the right flash or lens. Do you have a good specialty camera shop around? Hopefully you bought your kit that way. Second, you seem to imply that you use Studio because you want to use the camera tethered to a computer. In terms of seeing what you have quickly, however, all you need is a card reader (ballpark $20).