1) I suggest the Park Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair. Honestly, I just figured out how to work on bike stuff myself, but even so, this thing's actually a good read in and of itself.
2) I've had a few instances where the pedals really were pretty much stuck. When that happens: propane torch on the outside. It'll come right off after you expand the socket a bit.
3) put grease or better yet anti-seize compound on the threads before you put it back together again.

As an aside, it's kind of interesting why the pedals are threaded that way. If you think about it, if the bearings were to seize up or drag, you'd actually want the right side to be left handed and vice versa. The reason they are they way they are is that the shafts tend to precess as you pedal; that actually does make the right side tend to spin clockwise into the crankset and the left side spin ccw.