I just wanted to drop a couple of links to get things rolling. I recently found the 99 Bitcoins YouTube channel and it's a great place to start for quick explanations in plain English.
The first video I'm linking is a great place to start because understanding blockchain tech and how it works will pave the way for understanding everything that follows.
And this next link goes over bitcoin. I hope you'll find it informative. It's also a great idea to go re-watch the first video afterwards to really absorb how the two differ.
And finally, we move into (Bitcoin) mining. Understanding how Bitcoin is mined lays the foundation to understanding how not all cryptocurrencies are the same and how each different approach serves different needs.
Generally speaking, those are the fundamentals of cryptocurrency. Everything that follows stems from the ideas and concepts discussed in the videos above. There's enough out there to keep you as busy as you want to be if you want to do more research, but just taking a few days to ponder and re-visit what's here is a great start to understanding how it all works and where money is to be made.
If you want to dig deeper, I recommend just browsing the entire 99 Bitcoins channel. It's packed with resources! If you have questions about anything or want info about a specific topic hit me up in the comments, Discord, Twitter, or Bee Chat (peakd.com) and I'll try to find something that I think can help, if I can't answer you directly.