What brokerages offer demo accounts?
Also what other software would I need to use?
Open a demo account with a spread betting firm like IG which has its own web based execution and charting package. You won't need to spend anything or think about brokerages/feeds/commissions/etc and it will allow you to get a sense of how different markets move and behave over different timeframes. Essentially demo will allow you to:
a) Find a market that suits you
b) Find a timeframe(s) that suits you
c) Derive a trading plan/money management/risk profile that suits you
d) Start with pretend money and then eventually switch to trading small sums of real money (don't underestimate this jump as this is when your psychology really kicks in)
Reading in the background to support this behaviour will as Ninja says, allow you to figure out what is and isn't important to you.
If you're not in UK, then popular brokerages like Interactive Brokers support demo trading on their TWS platform.
Books I have found useful in the past in the order I read them too:
Technical Analysis of Financial Markets (John J Murphy) - The TA bible. Useful if you are going to incorporate TA into your method which I think most people do to some degree or another.
Way of the Turtle (Curtis Faith) - Highlights that having a plan and a method is not the only factor. Shows that technical methods are prone to human interpretation and human interpretation is the primary reason for plan failure.
Mastering the trade: Proven techniques for profiting from intraday and swing trading setups (John Carter) - Very useful book for explaining trading techniques. Used this as my initial introduction to some trading strategies. One that should be read later rather than earlier in your career as it assumes that you can read price to some degree which at the outset, most newb's cannot do.
Trading & Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners (Larry Harris) - Goes through the market structure and participants, their roles and interactions. Helped me realise that in order to be profitable, you have to provide a service in the market that is useful to other participants.
Trading in the Zone (Mark Douglas) - Emaphasis the importance of a plan and how basic human emotions significantly distort your reasoning. Usually the start of unravelling phsychological barriers that affect trading.
The psychology of trading: tools and techniques for minding the markets (Brett N. Steenbarger) - Shrink examines most common head problems affecting trading. Further insight into our tiny minds and how they damage trading performance.
The secrets of economic indicators: hidden clues to future economic trends (Bernard Baumohl) - Explains the significance of macroeconomic data that moves capital markets around. Allows you to form independent opinions about the meaning of the numbers to bias trade decisions.
New Monetarism (David Roche) - Explains macroeconomic structure of the world that has existed for the last 30 years. Useful for contextualising correlation of markets.
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Edwin Lefèvre) - Biography of Jesse Livemore. Highlights that human behaviour that drove markets in the 20's is equally as valid today. Insights into trading behaviour of one of the greats.
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Charles Mackay) - History revealing how crowd psychology affects behaviours. Historic chronicle of what happened with South Sea Bubble, Mississippi Scheme. More reinforcement of what happens in markets as bubbles form, burst, reform, etc
Market wizards:interviews with top traders (Jack Schwagger) - Self explanatory. Useful to see common themes that these guys share (discipline, patience, knowing when to bet big, not caring about money, playing good defense)
On top of this there has been countless stuff I have read on the internet, too numerous to mention.
Good luck.
