There's an excellent thread over on Slashdot ( yeah - who knew, right?) about electronic kits for adults. *Lots of great suggestions and links - check it out!

Best Electronics Kits For Adults?
Posted by kdawson on Friday June 20, @10:19AM
from the resistance-is-futile dept.
An anonymous reader writes
"I'm an adult looking to learn how electronics work and have some fun building projects. But all the kits I've found online are for kids 8-10 years old, and they don't really explain the principles - they just color-code where to place components on boards. Are there any kits aimed at adults? I know if anyone has got the answer, it's this community."

Here's a short selection of good links - many more to be found in the Slashdot thread itself:

HeathKit and Velleman - The classics, but mostly mentioned as an example of the "not aimed at adults" or the "not as good as they used to be" category

Quasar Electronics 200-in-1- 200 projects in one kit!

MakerShed - bunch of cool projects, many of which you've seen here at Instructables!

Electronics Learning Lab Designed by Forrest Mims and sold by radio shack.

What is a Microcontroller - Another "exception to the rule" good Radio shack kit.

Ramsey Electronics - Including some nice radio transmitter kits

AdaFruit - Including the MintyBoost USB charger and Arduino kits.

Nerdkit - For microcontroller and real-world/computer interaction.

One other common recommendation is "You're an adult, you don't need to put up with big brightly colored components and "put tab A in slot B" diagrams - make your own kit!"

US Navy Electricity & Electronics Training Series (NEETS) - All the practical electronics training you could want, in a free online PDF book format.

Lessons In Electric Circuits - A free series of textbooks on the subjects of electricity and electronics.

Sparkfun tutorials - Dozens of cool projects and tutorials from a major parts supplier.

Getting Started in Electronics - By Forrrest Mims; cited by several readers as the de-facto standard for learning electronics.