Topic: Need resources educate myself about Mining & more in depth Bitcoin analysis (Read 643 times)

Hi - I am reasonably new, but able to dedicate several hours a day to reading and research.  I have tried my best to learn from the "usual suspect" resources, Bitcoin Wiki, much much time on this forum, 2 kindle books: Bitcoin :Step By Step and Bitcoin a Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System, a few you tube videos

Here are the things that I would really like to increase my knowledge about:

1)Mining- not just the surface "how to"  I have read quite a lot of that, but it all seems to rely on some base knowledge that I do not possess (I am not a gamer, have been a MAC user, not a programmer etc)
 1a-  I am having issues getting guiminer or cgminer to install and actually open on my PC.  Every time I run the install application, it gets to the point where it asks to replace files, I click yes to all, it goes for another second and them closes. No program appears in my applications folder.
       (I will post in appropriate mining support forum with specific questions when I have a little time today)

     any good resources that go in depth about installing mining software and doing the steps to prepare to start mining?

 1b- How to get the best performance out of my rig
   
3x HD 7950
asrock 970 extreme4
sempon processor
kingston 8gb ramm
windows 7


as well as a few specific questions. (forgive me if they have been answered, I have read a lot of threads and haven't come across the answers or if I did, can't find that information currently)



2a) what program can I use to monitor my Ghash/s performance?

2b) are there any other programs that I should have for mining? What can I use to monitor temp on my 7950?


3) Are there any books or other resources that really really get in depth about Bitcoin? (Litecoin an other cryptos would be great too!)  There seems to be a lot of "basics" reading material. I have read that stuff, I want to get past 101 and into intermediate and eventually advanced research.

3b) has anyone read "Bitcoin: A Basic explanation of everything"   ??