Ive read the tutorial on the 595: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ShiftOut
(not extensively but i get it)
and im wondering if theres any way i can read a pin, or can i only feed it a byte and have the 8 pins act as output pins.
The 595 is a serial in parallel out shift register. If you want to read pins you will need a parallel in serial out shift register.
One such part is the 74LS164. An example of it in use is to read the switches in my monome project:- Econo Monome