Getting started in Ham radio
A book that meets your requirements would be the ARRL Handbook for Radio Communication. I haven't looked at this year's edition, but they typically have a section on electronics and radio theory, radio construction projects, antenna projects, and other side projects like power supplies. The projects run through the whole frequency range, though the HF projects are usually easier to build. The nice part is that not a lot of initial knowledge is assumed, and the theory sections are readable.