A thick book by Electrical Engineering gods Paul Horowitz and Winfred Hill. They basically give you the dirt on every electronic element there is, show you some standard ways of connecting them, then show you some better ways of connecting them, then show you some bad ways of using them that you thought were pretty cool until you read about them in this book. This is a good book to start with when you are learning electronics. Buy this book at the same time you buy a soldering iron and protoboard.