How do i learn electronics : a lost newbie version !

as a total newbie i am lost !!

current situation :
i know what things like resistor,capacitor,voltage,current ..etc just basic stuff. i started by reading the book : Electronics For Dummies 2009 edition (Amazon.com: Electronics For Dummies (9780470286975): Cathleen Shamieh, Gordon McComb: Books).
i have got some basic stuff : breadboard ,solder ,a whole bunch of resistors ,capacitors ,pots ... ets , magnifying lens ,multimeter, screwdrivers and a power supply ... you got the idea.

what i am aiming to become:
i wish i become an electronic geek. being able to design and make some useful stuff . for example i wish i can force my air conditioner to turn on one hour before i arrive home from work (yup , in summer we got 50+ degree Celsius outside ),i wish i could make a remote control to turn on /off the main lights of my room. i wish i could make some robots ... you got the idea.

the question :
i am sure the book i refereed to above is a very good starting point. the question now is what next ?
i got the book : The Art of Electronics (Amazon.com: The Art of Electronics (9780521370950): Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill: Books) and many people swear by it but i can't damn understand anything from that book(yet).

so please help !! i am basically lost!! what resources i should consider ? paying for books is not an issue.

thank you in advance

In your place I would take the following step: microcontrollers.

Nowadays there are a lot of useful and fun projects regarding arduinos and picaxes, both of which are fun to program and use in a number of applications. Or you can go in a more classical way and program directly PICs, 8051s, and other similar ICs in assembler or C.

With some electronics know-how, and some experience with micros, it is possible to build some pretty awesome stuff, from robotics to telecommunications and many other subjects.

Good luck!

Buying books is tricky until you have some knowledge of the subject. I learn't by reading every electronics books in several libraries when I was about 12-14 years old. I think your saviour is the net, just google some thing like "timer circuits" or "receiver circuits" and after wading through a lot of stuff like chip catalogues , you will find constructional articles with explanations of how they work. I could give you some book titles but they are 50 years out of date. You could look in secondhand book shops, flea markets, church jumble sales etc. I hope you succeed!!
Frank

Sergio16463 said:

In your place I would take the following step: microcontrollers.

Click to expand...

microcontrollers or PLC ?