I recommend Heisig's 'Remembering the Kanji' as a solid introduction into methodically breaking down the characters. By focusing on pieces-parts ("radicals") that are common between characters, you can create stories and mental pictures that help you recall what the character means. After that, learning the readings is significantly easier.

There is a website community that complements the philosophy of the book as well: http://kanji.koohii.com/learnmore

Remembering the Kanji: http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Vol-Complete-Characters/dp/0824831659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312828022&sr=8-1%5D

[romaji] Gambare! Renshuu de nan de mo dekiru zo! [/romaji]

why not just aggregate from digg.com already, this article is a day old :|