Morgan's books were some of my first serious reading in 2nd grade. I had a basic grasp of bell/battery/switch circuits for "show and tell" in 1st grade, but no access to a library. The bookshelf was well stocked with books on electricity and electronics by 2nd grade. Morgan's books were a good start on reading schematics and understanding simple tube circuits including amplifiers and oscillators. My 3rd grade library was less well stocked, but Morgan's books were still there. 4th grade I returned to the same school in Chula Vista as 2nd grade. I was digging into Tesla's writings. Moving onward to 7th grade, I was in Boy Scouts. Naturally, I zipped through the Electricity, Radio, Electronics and Signalling merit badges. By then I had mastered the solid state components and some basic integrated circuits. I didn't do a lot of electronics again until college physics ignited my interest again. At that point, I grabbed the AMECO theory/test prep books and earned an amateur radio Tech class license, then 2nd class Radiotelephone. I upgraded those over time to First Class Radiotelephone with Ship's Radar endorsement and Amateur Extra Class. The latter licenses were my excuse to work in marine electronics for a few years. Good hands-on experience with radar, sonar, VHF FM radio, SSB radio, fax, satellite navigation, telephone systems and PA systems.
All of that started with curiosity, a library and parents who made available some electronics kits when I was very young. I think we were fortunate to grow up at a time when the resources were there to build a breadth of skills.
All of that started with curiosity, a library and parents who made available some electronics kits when I was very young. I think we were fortunate to grow up at a time when the resources were there to build a breadth of skills. I used my bicycle to visit every library within about 10 miles of our home. My interest was mostly in technical books. I read so much that the standardized tests they gave us back then indicated that I was reading at high school level while I was still in elementary school.
One of my grandsons has many characteristics, both positive and negative that are similar to my own. He is not all that sociable, so when he comes over for Christmas or his birthday I often hand him a kit to put together. He almost always has them put together before we start eating. When he was a toddler, he was completely fascinated by automatic doors when we took him to a restaurant. His dad was annoyed with this, but I correctly assumed that his curiosity at such an early age was an indication of intelligence.
His older brother is now an adult but always had more interest in mechanical processes. I had him weld his name on a steel plate with a MIG welder when he was eight. I just told him it was like drawing with a crayon only you had to keep the flame slightly above the surface of the metal. Our daughter was of course horrified but was pretty amazed by his aptitude.