couple of newbie questions

I have a meade lx10 and am looking to get into astrophotograpy and have a couple questions. first: how important is a focal reducer? second, if using an off axis guider and a t-ring, then the whole scope becomes the lense and I don't have any differing magnification right? and third, can you recomend a good book or online source for enough info to get me started?

Thanks,
Ken