You may be intimidated by soldering, but you’re interested in exploring the world of tinkering that only a proper soldering kit can open up. The communities over at Geekhack and Geekhackers have been helping people learn the process for years and the culmination of their efforts is the Learn to Solder Kit, a comprehensive set of supplies designed and arranged by Ming Kawaguchi (mkawa on Geekhack) to be a purely pro-bono tool for education. Check out this thread on Geekhack where people who have used this kit to get started with electronics. There are plenty of other kits with low quality tools available for lower prices, but as any experienced soldering enthusiast will tell you, it's generally worth it to start with a set of tools that are built to last.