Thanks for your insight.
Like the OP, my math skills are limited (algebra is fine, trig I can hack through, what little calculus I truly understood left me long ago). Even with this meager numerical toolset, I've found it possible to do some basic
conceptual design tasks (Raymer is my hero, and there are other good sources). I'm finding that design of structures is a much tougher nut. I'm glad you found Peery to be useful, but in my opinion his prose is very obtuse. I suppose this was a common way of writing when he wrote the book (1950), and it is an engineering textbook and not targeted at a "lay" audience, but that doesn't make it easier to understand. Thankfully, it does have good drawings and some exercises (no answers

). I'm sure it is a great text for aspiring engineers who have a good math foundation and who need to be exposed to a lot of different situations.
While it is quite different, I found Richard Hiscocks' "Design of Light Aircraft" to be useful and remarkably straightforward. It is clearly targeted toward amateurs, and gets right to the point. Unfortunately, it
doesn't cover structural design, but appears to do a good job of explaining how to calculate loads (which is a very important first step, and a logical one after the conceptual design phase). Loaded with concrete examples of every concept, which I find to be the best way to explain things.
Regarding structures, Billski has been very generous with his time in explaining many typical calculations (see the HBA "stickies." Some "greatest hits" include
Beam Theory Explained---How Spars Work,
Mechanics of Composite Plates, Beams, and Bigger Structures, etc). "Stress without Tears" has been
recommended by mcrae0104, so that will be the next stop in my search for a basic explanation of aircraft structures.
Thanks again,
Mark