You were bold to take on such a huge topic here.  I am looking forward to setting up my first hive next spring and am amazed by how much there is to learn. I am going to attend a "beekeeping school" which is offered by my local beekeepers association.  I went to my first meeting last month and the one VERY IMPORTANT take away I got was that no beekeeper should be without an EPI Pen in their kit.   There was a life long beekeeper who out of the blue after years of beekeeping almost died because she went into anaphylactic shock after being stung by ONE BEE while trying to help her hive after a bear had gotten into it.