What books should I read? What tools do I need? What components should I buy? Are there opensource hardware projects I can study from? Edit: I have a background in Computer Science and a thorough understanding of computer architecture.
Probably something like Arduino. Here's an example: <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11377" rel="nofollow">https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11377</a>