Have to agree with you that online tutorials followed by hands-on is a more practical way to learn than try and follow books. Finding the right tutorial is tricky though. Have you noticed that most Java tutorials assume that you know C?
I'll be writing more about the benefits of learning by doing, because in my experience there is a LOT that you DON'T learn when you just buy hosting and use CPanel to manage your servers. It pays to just setup a server yourself at least once, you'd have a new found appreciation for what many developers take for granted =D