Subscribe to a recording industry publication. Tape Op is one of the most popular magazines and can be obtained free if you sign up at their website. It's an invaluable source of information about studio recording equipment, how it's used and the people who use it. As well as interviews with notable sound engineers, Tape Op also prints in-depth reviews of studio equipment.
Register with an online recording forum. Don't shy away from forums frequented by recording professionals, as there's invaluable information to be gleaned from reading their online conversations. Harmony Central is a site that caters to the experienced as well as the newcomer.
Apply for a volunteer or intern position at a local recording studio. Not only will you be around the equipment found in recording studios, but you can actually see it in use every day. Paid positions at a studio may be hard to come by, especially for the inexperienced, but volunteering will get you in on the ground floor, and if you're a good worker with an aptitude for the work, then you may get opportunities for more of a hands-on role in the future.
Send in an application to a recording school. These schools can be a little pricey, and acceptance won't guarantee you work in the industry after you graduate, but they will give you lots of in-depth, one-on-one instruction in a state-of-the-art recording facility. This will give you real hands-on experience with all manner of studio equipment, along with sound technical instruction that will help you understand exactly what the equipment does.
Buy some basic recording equipment of your own and use it at every given opportunity. This doesn't have to be an expensive setup; a simple all-in-one digital multi-tracker will suffice. Whether you use it to record your own music or to record demos for friends, the more you use it, the more comfortable you'll feel with the basic equipment necessary for recording. This helps demystify the recording process, so that when you start to add more equipment, it won't seem so intimidating.