Fly Fishing Basics
To get started in fly fishing all you really need is a rod, a reel, some line and a fly. But before you put these together and attempt to cast a weightless fly into the aether... you must be prepared for what is to follow - 
As Roderick H. Browne once wrote: "The sport of fishing is an important part of life...but it is also something more than a sport. It is intimate exploration of a part of the world hidden from the eyes and minds of ordinary people. It is a way of thinking and doing, a way of reviving the mind and body, that men have been following with growing intensity for hundreds of years."
So as a novice, you must ready yourself for the cryptic speech of fly shop owners/entomologists discussing the life cycle of 'ephemera diptera', the clumsy flight of 'pteronarcys californica' or speciation of 'chaoborus'. But once versed in the basics of insect biology you will then want to apply them to the flies you tie. Again the complex variety and number of tools, materials, and methods of tying absolutely boggles the mind, not to mention understanding the multiple methods and techniques of casting, tying, rod building, stream reading, fish IDing and fish thinking. 
The world and what you thought you knew of it - is about to explode.
But don't get too alarmed - after all I am getting a little ahead of myself. We learn to crawl, before we walk and walk before we run. So lets start out crawling and piece our gear together -- after that hold on - this thing you've hooked is going to run.