Our abundantly knowledgable Steve AKA mixedgas Has located the actual curriculum start point, Oh the one upmanship! ;0
But he has found this link to start from, and mentions several good CHEAP books for us newwbies to the inner works of lasers.
http://cord.org/cm/new/viewleot.htm
This however is free and seems a good starting point for those of us down on bottom of the learning curve