I think the suggestion to try something smaller first, like climbing one of the numerous 14kft peaks in the lower 48, would be a good place to start. Mt. Whitney and Mt. Shasta (both in California) are each challenging-but-doable, and probably good places to see if you like the activity.
If you want some more reading, I'd suggest getting a copy of the Dick Bass/Frank Wells book,
Seven Summits, in which they document how they became the first to summit the tallest peaks on each continent. Obviously, there's no shortage of good books on this sort of thing, which makes it very easy to do a lot of vicarious exploration before you step into the crampons.