Aaron:
The books you have were written a while ago. For example, Expert at the Card Table was written in 1902, Expert Card Technique in 1940 and Royal Road in 1951. They are sometimes difficult to understand, there are some mistakes in the descriptions and sometimes the drawings don't reflect the written instructions. So you are not alone. Expert at the Card Table is a particularly difficult read for a beginner.
The difficulty of learning some of the material is why I recommend the Card College series. It has much better illustrations and the writing is easier to understand.
However, you can learn from the books you have. Start at the beginning of Royal Road. There will be some terms you will have to look up (like phalanx which is the singular of phalanges which refer to the segments of bone in the each finger).
To learn from a book, I take the following steps:
1. Read through what you are trying to learn with a focus on what the sleight does and what it looks like to the spectators.
2. Read through a second time, trying to visualize what you need to do when performing the sleight.
3. Read through a third time with a deck in your hands, walking through the steps slowly. Repeat until you can recite the checkpoints from memory (left index finger here, right thumb here, this finger moves this way, the deck does this).
4. Begin practicing the move while reciting the checkpoints. Repeat until the move becomes pretty natural.
5. Reread the section without a deck in your hands to make sure you are doing what they are saying to do. You will be amazed how often the description makes more sense after you have tried to do the move.
6. Adjust you checkpoints accordingly and begin practicing the move until you can perform it without reciting the checkpoints.
Finally, always feel free to post questions about specific sleights and what problem you are having. We typically can figure out what you are doing wrong from a description of the problem but we may need a video.
Good luck!
4. Repeat step 3 until you are confident of what you are su