I've got marketing down...Now what? What top 3 books/resources?

[Aaron Tjomsland]

I've established my financial path via another route and now I want to learn about solid, principled real estate/asset investing. 

Reading through BP is like running around with a bucket trying to catch the rain. I love it. There is so much good knowledge. 

I'm hoping to gain a structured foundation of the most practical investing principles/best foundational practices required to begin OR I'd love to hear in the most simple terms how you went from A to B at the very beginning of your investing days.

Let me clarify that my goal is to first gain a broad and then deep knowledge of what works and then gain a basic knowledge base on most effective strategies. I want to learn as much as possible before I jump out of the plane. 

If you were to start with a clean slate of 0 knowledge. What 3 books or resources would you refer me to? OR if you could brake it down into the most basic components you would want to know what would they be?