There is a lot of advice here for beginners, but it tends to be based on particular questions and not organized as a series of lessons. That is what books offer.

One book I would recommend is Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backpackin' Book. I have never read it, but recommend it based on two of their other books on backcountry skiing and telemark skiing, which I do have and both of them are great for beginners.

The other book I highly recommend is The Complete Walker by Colin Fletcher and Chip Rawlins. Get the latest edition. Fletcher's book has been around for years and is considered the standard for books on backpacking and camping.

There are of course, many others including a "Camping for Dummies" book, which I have seen in the bookstore. There are also books on backcountry coooking and one of our members, Sarbar, as someone already mentioned, has a website with lots of menus and cooking tips and a cookbook.

Read these before you go; you could take Allen & Mike's book with you, but the others, especially The Complete Walker are big and heavy.

As far as your questions go, doing anything without a clue as to what you are doing or the risks involved is not such a great idea. My first bike touring trip was solo, so I can't really say it shouldn't be done, but I had some camping experience and thousands of road miles on a bike before my trip, so I wasn't exactly a total newbie.

I don't recommend an alcohol stove for a total beginner. Other people here will disagree, but my choice would be a canister stove-light, easy to use and almost foolproof. If you look at through the sponsors' sites by clicking the links above the banner, you will see many of them sell for around $50 or less. I have a Primus, but pretty much any of them will do.

As far as your other questions, the books I recommended will answer most of them. The Sierra Club in your area may offer camping classes and if there is an REI near you, they often have free lectures for beginners. You might also find a club at a local college.