I'm also about to make the plunge into this career, trying to get there before I reach my mid-thirties and long term airline prospects begin to dwindle. Likewise, I am planning on reading as many books on aviation/flight training as I can, begining with the introductory private pilot versions, at the moment I am trying to save money on videos or other more expensive avenues (ground school's).

I'm currently reading: "The Pilot's Manual: Ground School: All the aeronautical knowledge required to pass the FAA exams and operate as a Private and Commercial Pilot", just finished an older Jeppesen version a few days ago.

I plan on using this time to read as many books as I can in order to ingrain the material into my brain and then knock out as many written tests as possible in order to get those out of the way as someone suggested above.