This sounds incredible and makes me want to go through a similar learning process. I don’t suppose anyone could recommend a book or course along these lines?

A lot of us started out putting together some of the circuits in Forrest Mims Radio Shack books [1]. He does a good job of explaining how they work as well.

And then there is an amazing site with (thousands of ?) electronics hobbyist magazines archived [2]. If you want to start browsing, they often ran series in their issues along the lines of "getting started in electronics". Regardless, some awesome projects in there.

But if you want to go back pre-transistor (ha ha) the U.S. Navy had a great series on learning electronics [3]. Def. analog.

[1] https://archive.org/search?query=Forrest+Mims

[2] https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Popular-Electronics-Guide....

[3] https://archive.org/details/basic-electronics-volumes-1-5-by...

The Art of Electronics is an incredible resource. They have a companion book which guides you through hands-on labs. I have not read it, but I trust that it would be worthwhile.

https://learningtheartofelectronics.com/