Maybe most important book to recommend is a notebook. Keep track of when you made the various solutions (fixer, stop, developer) with relevant information like dilution etc. Next to my solutions I always take note of how many films I have developed so I can avoid exhausted fixer/developer etc.
Then I keep track per developed film of the conditions I shot it in (very contrasty or flat light, cloudy day etc etc) at what I rated the film in camera and then things like developer dilution, temperature, time, maybe even agitation schedule etc. At the bottom of the entry I will then write comments after examining the dried film like: too contrasty, did not scan well etc etc so that I can slowly figure out what the best combinations are for me.
The notebook helps you in keeping track of what you do and should allow you to faster reach the stage where you know what to do in most situations and for new situations you will have a pretty good idea about best developing approach.
If you just develop without any system and vary things like temperature and time never really keeping track of results you will spend a lot more time to get good results.
It is not a lot of work and well worth the little effort.
Personally I also did not like Adam's books, but enjoyed Anchells (once I was already more experienced), but I think you can get most information you need on the internet and here or on
www.apug.org. or at Roger and Frances' website (
www.rogerandfrances.com/) , modestly not mentioned in his own post ( a very useful place for information).
Welcome to the club.
