How to learn the basics?

Illustrator was my first graphics software several decades ago. I drifted away from it, into bitmap graphics.

Now, I want to try using it again... but finding useful -- and basic -- how-to information seems to be impossible! The videos and tutorials I have found assume I have more than basic knowledge. I'm tired of clicking unfamiliar icons and looking for actual help.

I want to be able to understand settings and how the app is supposed to work. 

I am an old fart and long for the days when there was an actual (printed) user manual that I could flip through or use a TOC or index to quickly find useful information; I do not appreciate having to sit through you-tube videos or tutorials just to (maybe) learn how to do something.