Hi Doug, Don't worry, you're not stupid 🙂 The 511EB doesn't have to be on to charge. When it is plugged in to USB, you'll see the LED in the top left corner turn red. If the device is switched on, the battery symbol will also change to have a little lightening bolt on it. You can't delete books from the eReader itself. You need to plug it in to your computer, switch on USB transfer mode and then delete them directly from the memory card. Hope that helps. T