The two things that helped me the most were listening to podcasts about beer brewing and buying beer smith.
The podcasts, specifically Beer Smith Home Brewing and The Brewing Network presents The Jamil Show, taught me a lot about what goes into building a beer recipe. I based a lot of my early AG brews on Jamil's recipes, and then started changing things up to get what I wanted. Books are great, but reading them on your commute can be a challenge
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Once I had the baseline there, I used beer smith to make sure my grain bill an hops met the gravity, color, IBU ratios for the style I wanted. Beer Smith has slider bars for these, so it's really easy to figure out your targets (oops, not enough wheat/too much wheat for that 5 gal batch of Hefeweizen).
Finally, it seems like you're still a little nervous after reading some of the other comments - especially related to yeast and hop choices. If that's the case, try a smaller batch your first time with a recipe, or split your wort into multiple fermenters so you can try two different yeasts. If you are really ambitious and have two boil kettles, split your wort and do separate boils with different hops. I've done this a lot, because I do 10 gallon batches and own 6 gallon carboys.
At the end of the day, beginning AG brewing is all about experimentation and personal preference. The key is to figure out what you love to drink (E.g. Your favorite commercial beers) and then try to make something similar. You dial in your recipes after a few brews And then you have a beer that you love!
One final comment - figure out your equipment layout early. I don't have a fixed place to brew, and I always burn extra hours on setup and breakdown because of it.
Happy brewing!