In my humble opinion, calculating the number of blocks you need is easy. 1. You need to know how big you want your quilt to be (your mattress size plus the drop on all sides). 2. Then you need to know your finished block size. 3. Then divide the width of the desired quilt by the block size and divide the length of the desired quilt by the block size. 4. Multiply the answers you got in 3.
Example: I want to make a crib quilt that is 48 inches by 56 inches. My blocks are 8 inches square, finished size. 48/8=6. 56/8=7. 6x7=42. So I need to make 42 blocks, if there are no borders.
Example 2: I want to make the same quilt, but with 4 inch borders on all sides. So the actual blocks sewn together will be 40 inches by 48 inches. 40/8=5, 48/8=6 and finally 5x6=30. I would need to make 30 blocks, and sew 6 rows of 5.
You don't need to buy books or information sheets. You just need to know what dimensions you want your quilt to be, and what the FINISHED size of your block is.