I would say, if you can afford it, go to school. The professionals can provide very good direction. Start with an introductory course, and follow where your interest leads you.

Hello and welcome to the forum, mate.

Philosophy is complex and wide. Are you interested in some notions of philosophy or something more specific? 

Reading philosophy books is important, but don't be shy to start a thread here on what you want to discuss or learn. Dreamlike, hallucination, art, our mind and the world, etc., always interested me and I learnt a lot asking questions here.

There is also a 'currently reading' thread where you can ask for book recommendations.

The book "Sophie's World" is a good starting place. I recently picked up "Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...", which is a bunch of introductory snippets on various parts of philosophy but illustrated with jokes.

Both of these give you a taste of various topics without having to do too much work. I think it would be a good idea for you to find out something you're interested in in it so that you know what you read next. At least gives you some key terms to google.

Welcome to the forums! For beginners I don't recommend going to school, use the internet to do that!

Here's a 30 minute summary of philosophy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5i2y5w8Dzc

Here's a friendly digest which gives a more fun overview that dives a little deeper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2zElslG_tE&list=PLybg94GvOJ9FIZxEevSANiCk5O9l_rYWK

Want something more serious? Here's an online history of philosophy series of lectures for free from Arthur Holmes at Wheton College
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yat0ZKduW18&list=PL9GwT4_YRZdBf9nIUHs0zjrnUVl-KBNSM

Want to just browse topics like 'Aristotle, moralty, or epistemology?' Use the Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html

And of course, feel free to browse the forums and start topic like, "Can I taste the color green?" :) Have fun learning!

One thing unmentioned that I really like is the "A Very Short Introduction" series of books, as well as the "Introducing" series for similar reasons: They are easy to read and you get a fairly good all-around picture on the subject from someone whose taught it, but in comic book form. What's not to like?! :D

They write them on a number of philosophical, and sometimes other, subjects so I'll just post a link to one of each so you know what to look for if you're interested.

Introducing Descartes
Logic: A Very Short Introduction

Write. Let questions come out. Try to answer them as best you can.

People often suggest starting with Plato too. There is a good reason for that. The Republic is a pretty solid piece of work that covers a variety of topics AND it is also important to understand the historical context and learn something of ancient history so as not to be dismissive.

I've also heard people suggesting Hume as he wrote in English.

If you have literally no idea I honestly think writing and having a 'discussion' on paper with yourself. Maybe just start by asking "Why am I interested in Philosophy?" and then just write and write and write. Undoubtedly some interesting thoughts and ideas will pop up, then you just have to follow them with other questions.

Doing that for a few months will give you some grounding in your own thoughts before sullying them with those of others. Plus, it will allow you to better choose from the other suggestions offered probably.

Anyway, have fun and suffer ;)

Plenty of reading and good advice already.

But here is a handy free online crib sheet to use whenever you come across a name or a term that you are not familiar with. Philosophers love to name drop and use latin jargon so as to sound smart when they talk their nonsense. You don't want a treatise on every name, just a quick outline of who or what and when.

http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/index.htm

There's other stuff there too - a timeline some stuff on logic, some history, etc but the dictionary is what will be most useful probably. Not to read wholesale, but to lookup this and that while you cruise here or elsewhere..