Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims III is a great book for anyone interested in electronics!

This book has had a major affect on my life and the career choices I have made. As a kid growing up in the 1980s, I used to regularly frequent our local Radio Shack store. I used to love looking at their electronic parts collection wondering what I could make out of them. At the time I was 12 years old and was too young to enroll in any electronic classes at school. I was also part of the Radio Shack “Battery Club” where I would get one free battery each month. Remember those days? I wanted to get to know more about electronic so the store manager recommended I pick up a copy of Getting Started in Electronics book which was one of many publications by Forrest Mims that Radio Shack stores carried at the time.
This book is awesome, it covers basic electricity and electronic theory in a very easy to read fashion with cute hand drawings. Later on in the book it covers discrete electronic components, their schematic symbols, and their electrical properties.The book starts with pictorial drawing of circuits then moves on to schematic diagrams.As an added bonus, the back of the book contains one hundred circuit projects that you can build on your own! 
This book has changed very little since I purchased my copy in the early 1980s, but the theory and electronic circuits found in this book are still sound! It can be found at online retailers such as Amazon.
This book inspired me to take vocational electronics in high school where we learned about vacuum tubes, transistors, and TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic). I ran a successful TV/VCR repair business out of my parents basement and used the money to pursue my electronics hobby and to pay for car expenses. Later on I pursued a Bachelors Degree in Electronic Engineering Technology and worked on everything from electronic weigh systems used in steel mills to CNC Lathes used in the shipbuilding industry. I used electronics as a stepping stone into my current career as a Systems Administrator in the computer field.
I recommend this book for kids and adults alike that want to know more about electronics!

My original copy of Getting Started in Electronics from the 1980s!