I think I've left it a bit late in life to learn about electronics. I read somewhere recently that the transistor was the greatest invention of the 20th century and realized that not only didn't I know how transistors worked but I wasn't completely sure what they did.

Although...

I'm pretty sure I used to know at least the basics of this stuff as I was a geeky kid who built his share of breadboard motion detectors, crystal radios and less interesting circuits from a kit -- but that was a long time ago. A very long time ago as I vaguely remember buying resistors from a little electrical shop near Worcester Cathedral and we left Worcester when I was ten. Yikes, that memory triggered tremors in the nostalgia zone - I could have told you what the bands on this resistor represented years before I kissed a girl or could explain the offside rule....

But it's all gone now. All that pre-pubescent enthusiasm for science and technology bored out of me by the school system and my own wastrel nature. Now I need to check Wikipedia before I wire a plug.

(Long pause with appropriate visual and sound effects.)
 
I'm looking forward to buying Miles something like this when he's old enough. Although I may buy it a few years in advance so that I can figure it all out and not look like a total buffoon when putting together a CdS Controlled IC Oscillator.