Good resources for learning EE + optics

I find myself, when reading this forum, feeling more than a little ignorant of basic electrical engineering and optics concepts. Does any have a recommendation of a good primer for these areas (especially one that appeals to those of us who aren't intrinsicly math oriented). I studied as an artist, so my learning about color and light only skirted the scientific side of things.

This site seems to have a good set of basic electronics concepts: http://www.electronicsteacher.com/. Make sure you click the Tutorials link at the top any time you finish a page and want to move on, I found it non-intuitive to navigate at first.

I would not recommend attempting much beyond a basic laser mod until you've built a few working circuits, or better yet, a few initally non-working ones that you then figure out how to troubleshoot and make work. That's just my opinion though

Optics is a bit different. Most of the stuff you'll read about here is specific to lasers, but generally is explained to, so I'm not sure what to recommend apart from Sam's Laser FAQ at http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm.

(yea, I'm to lazy to embed my links )

gracias

fixorater - I would have to agree with ajohnson in regards to the sam's laser FAQ site - it has a wealth of information on there - some of it is even moderately easy to understand ! The main thing is - when you come across a question that needs answered, and you cannot locate a resource - post here - there are LOTS of good, smart folks on here that are willing to help, and share their knowledge ! Most of the time you will get really good answers - not a bunch of gobbly-gook that you cannot understand