Affiliate Marketing Secrets

It seems like there is so much technology out there (Cisco, Juniper, XTML, Pearl, Adobe and so on) there is no way one person can grasp all its concepts. So I guess my question is, whats the best way to base my career path in IT? Is it to study a niche, like Networking or Programming? Or should I spend my time learning about bits and pieces of as much as I can to be more well rounded?

Yes I am well aware that there is lots of free information on the internet to learn affiliate marketing. The problem is the free route is more time consuming I would think. I am new to affiliate marketing to im just guessing. It just seems to me that it would take a long time to read up through a bunch of message boards and websites for a little information here and there. I was curious if there was a good book(or website) that would have most of what I would need to learn in one place so that i dont have a spend years learning bits and pieces and from trial and error. I will pick a best answer and thanks to everyone that trys to help!