It's ok to ask questions. That's what these forums are for.

Rigging: building a skeleton and animation controls for a character (or anything else, for that matter). One of the hardest and most frustrating things to do in 3D. Somehow, I enjoy doing it for a living.

The Richard Williams book is geared specifically towards animation regardless of what the medium is. Good animation is good animation. Richard Williams refers to computer animation in his book, but his background is hand-drawing animation (he worked on Roger Rabbit). If you want to learn animation, get this book.

If you want to learn 3D computer animation, then the Inspired Series is really good. There are two books specifically geared towards character work: Inspired 3D Character Animation and Inspired 3D Character Setup. They're expensive books (retail USD $60 each), but they contain good information. The setup book gets advanced very quickly, but, as long as you've gone through the tutorials included with Maya and some free online ones, you'll be on your way to understanding the material.