The Professional Chef is the text used at the Culinary Institute of America. As for patisserie I can't say for sure, but I taught myself a good deal from The Professional Pastry Chef (4th Edition).
As for books that help you to understand technique, none such exist. They can tell you why food carmelizes at high temperatures, why certain foods oxidize and turn brown while others don't, things like that. As for the understanding of technique, however, there is NO substitution for learning by doing. I would say that it's easier to self teach patisserie than cooking, because it is SO precise. Normal cooking however, is affected largely by how good your technique is, and it's really impossible to know how good your technique is compared to any other cook out there.
Say you're trying to do something simple, like pan-roast a chicken breast. You want a great sear, the right amount of seasoning, it should have great color, texture, flavor, and plenty of moisture. How do you know if you're not seasoning enough without something to compare to? How do you know if you're compromising moisture for a better color? These are all things you learn by doing, and you CAN learn to do it at home by yourself, but you will spend lots of time and money in the process, and you'll never really know where you stand.
If you're thinking of attending culinary school, I won't tell you what to do either way. I thought about going at one point while I was a cook because I had a real passion for it. The other cooks who had been to culinary school all told me approximately the same thing: save your money. You'll learn in 3 months on the job at a good restaurant kitchen what you would learn in 2 years at school. Of course this doesn't apply to everything: you'd get to do charcuterie in school, for example, whereas many kitchens now wouldn't even consider having any sort of home-made pate or farce on their menus.
If what you want are tips and good advice, then these forums are a good place to start. It you want great foundational skills, you need to get into a kitchen, either on the job or in school.