In my reading of your post, the categories “academic” and “commercial idiot guides” do not make clear what aspect(s) of photography you would like to learn about, for example technical vs. historical vs. critical, or analog vs. digital, or street photography vs. medical/technical. One could go on here...
Perhaps refining the description of your interests would help would-be respondents.
And I might add that two of the “...for Dummies” books (which might or might not be what you have in mind in using the category “commercial idiot guides”) helped me a lot as I was starting to learn one thing or another over the past several years and I still go back to them occasionally for something new I need or for something I don’t recall, having forgotten it after not using it for some time.
Good luck with your search.