I installed MySQL at home and on my server (which was easy) and then bought Head First SQL. I once built databases for a living, but that was ten years ago, and I was using Microsoft Access, which automates a lot of the SQLy stuff. So the principles stuck but the details haven't.
If there hadn't been a Head First book, I wouldn't have bought anything; paper books on particular technologies mostly suck. But in this case, the Head-First books have an explicit educational philosophy that makes for very good instruction, plus you can critique the book's execution of the pedagogy as you read. Two for one! For Dummies books used to offer similar quality, but they've slid.