Hello...I am new to corporate training and looking for some good reading on fundamentals for the field. Not looking for anything really specific but sort of like "training fundamentals for dummies" sort of stuff...anyone have any good reads they can recommend?

MUST read -- The Accelerated Learning Handbook (Dave Meier). See also The International Alliance for Learning:

http://www.ialearn.org

Also - any book by Sharon Bowman. Particularly "Preventing Death by Lecture" and "How to Give It So They Get It"

Good luck!

Dave Meier's book is wonderful. I loved his saminar.

For general fundamentals (whatever those are!), check out Training for Dummies (T4D). Read it before Meier's book so you have the fundamentals, then great ways to actually deliver training from Meier. T4D also has material on evaluations, etc.

What I love about Meier's book is that it gives a low-down on everything from how people learn to a brief history of accelerated learning, to instructional design and everything in between. I'd actually recommend reading that first and then reading other resources. But that's JMHO.

Here's three more:

"Telling Ain't Training" (Harold D. Stolovitch / Erica J. Keeps), "Creative Training Techniques" (Robert W. Pike), Instructor Excellence (Bob Powers).
Good Luck!!