What basics should I learn about real estate investing as a personal investor

I have saved up about $500k which is enough to get going with a little bit of real estate investing on the side. I've explored it to the extent that it's an area of interest but I have no fundamentals on how to execute. I have seen friends invest in homes and condos but they did not give much thought to the choice - they picked cities they liked, and residences they liked, and are winging it from there. I would like to approach it more methodically. Are there any key books on the topic you would recommend? Given a book might be more academic, are there other resources on the practical day-to-day of doing real estate investing out of my own pocket?

Thank you.