A couple thoughts off the top: (actually this will be long, and scatterbrained I'm sure)
Grains do different things at different temperatures. If you aren't going all-grain (which is a huge PITA), the easiest things is to add grains to cold water, turn on the heat, and pull them out before they boil. Of course it can boil afterwards, but after the grains are taken out. There's some sock-like "things" that do a good job holding them. You can hold it at different temperatures for each step, but often it doesn't matter enough to worry about.
On the grains you do use - crack them open. Either have the shop do it if they have a mill, or you can do it yourself. It's tedious, but rolling a bottle over them works - eventually. Don't use a blender, or they'll turn into dust. The boiled dust doesn't taste so good, and it's hell later when you pour it into the fermenter trying to keep the spent ingredients from getting into the mix.
Use glass carboys! Plastic buckets are notorious for infecting batches. Also, use lots of bleach, B-brite, or something similar. Actually you don't need much, but use it on everything that won't get cooked. Don't be afraid to be "too clean".
Make sure to aerate the wort when you pitch the yeast. At this stage, lots of oxygen is good. Later on, after it's done fermenting, don't disturb it at all - at that point oxygen is bad!
If your Munton& Fison kit says don't boil... don't boil. Most kits need it though, I guess follow the directions? Typically, I use pure extract without hops added. I need to boil - I use hops for bittering (boil about 45 minutes), some more for flavor (boil about 10), then a last bit for smell (throw in when pulling off the stove). You just have to experiment really.
"Dry hopping" is incredible, if you love hops. Save a pinch (1/4 oz?) to add when you transfer to your secondary. The smell is just great when you are having a beer later on. Of course, this depends on what you make, it works better on a cream ale than a stout.
Use "Irish Moss". It helps coagulate the grain dust and hops and everything else at the bottom of the pot to make it easier to pour,and you get less "junk" in the fermenter.
I keep it in a primary fermenter until it's "done". This can be 48 hours, it coud be over a week. Optimum would be to check specific gravity and see when it stops changing. But I usually just watch the fermentation bubbles, wait for them to stop, and then add about 24 hours. Then put it in the secondary and keep as much yeast as possible from being transferred. Having a cold secondary environment seems to help let the yeast settle out too, in preparation for bottling.
I always get cloudy beer. If you figure out how to prevent it, let me know.
Kegging is a great invention. I picked up two 5 gallon used soda kegs and a CO2 tank, regulators, etc. for about $200. Add $50 for an old dorm fridge, and $20 to buy a pice of plexiglass to put in place of the inner door shelves. Small fridge holds two kegs side by side, with room to store unused hops and malt behind them, and still fits under a workbench
Needs no primer sugar, no bottles to sterilize or clean afterwards, and generally has less sediment too. Much easier to control carbonation.
Also, on recipes, you simply have to experiment. If you brew enough, try variations of a single recipe. Pick one you like - for me it was "cream ale". Make it. Then try it again with different malt. Then again with different hops. yeast, etc. each time. Gives you a great idea what each one does. My favorite's are "light" extract, cascade hops, and "American" yeast. There's lots of books with recipes, and 'net sites too. Think of your favorite microbrews, check the maker's homepages and see if they list recipes - sometimes they do. Taste each ingredient when you throw it in, so you know better what's coming out of it all, and what to change next time. Wheat beers are fun too, if you drink them a little early they have a banana flavor which can be quite good.
Don't overdo any one ingredient though, too much of any ingredient makes it taste bad... You can make it "too strong". It'll only ferment to a point, and the alcohol will kill the remaining yeast. If it hasn't all fermented by then, it isn't very tasty.
Invite lots of friends over to help drink it, makes it easier to get more batches down to experiment with. Have them bring food over so you get something for your trouble. "You bring the burgers, I'll provide the beer" for example. Owning a pool table or something similar helps too.
Get a book - 'the bible" - I believe it's Charlie Papazian?
And at any particular step - "relax, don't worry, have a homebrew".
