In reply to eccyamigo:
Personally I'm not that impressed by "Zinn and the ..." though a lot of people rate it, horses for courses I suppose. The Park Tools book and on-line videos are good.
Regarding tools: I'd get the best you can afford (though it's easy to spend lots of money) in roughly this order:
Set of Allen (hex) keys
Flat and Phillips screwdrivers
Adjustable spanner
Chain tool and chain wrench
Cable cutters
Pedal spanner
Cassette removal tool
BB tool (Leyzyne do a combined external BB and cassette tool for Shimano parts)
Bike Stand
Add to this things like degreaser, lubes and rags/cloths and you are good for 90% of the jobs you are likely to do. There's probably one or two other things as well that I can't remember at the moment.
If you need to true a wheel then you can use the forks/rear drop-outs as a substitute stand - if it's badly out then a wheel stand will make things a lot easier.
After that lot you are getting in to the realms of jobs that you may do on a yearly or less basis so you've the choice of either using your LBS or splashing the cash but as an example, the cheapest headset press is about £70, the good one is £250. You can make your own using threaded bar and large washers.
ALC