<p>Let's say I woke up today and wanted to create a clone of StackOverflow.com, and reap the financial windfall of millions $0.02 ad clicks. Where do I start?</p>

<p>My understanding of web technologies are:</p>

<ul>
<li>HTML is what is ultimately displayed</li>
<li>CSS is a mechanism for making HTML look pleasing </li>
<li>ASP.NET lets you add functionality using .NET(?)</li>
<li>JavaScript does stuff</li>
<li>AJAX does asyncronous stuff</li>
<li>... and the list goes on!</li>
</ul>

<p>To write a good website to I just need to buy seven books and read them all? Are Web 2.0 sites really the synergy of all these technologies?  </p>

<p>Where does someone go to get started down the path to creating professional-looking web sites, and what steps are there along the way. </p>

I would recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/MCTS-Self-Paced-Training-Exam-70-528/dp/0735623341/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218830714&sr=8-1
I have just read it to take the exam, and although I knew the web theory part, I found it to be of great value.
This of course is a ASP.NET specific book, but that is what I would recommend learning anyways.
After you learn all the ASP.NET stuff, I would suggest reading up on
JQuery
.
Happy coding :)