Books are great, read everything you can. That said, my recommendations to a young person would be to make/build things. Make cheese or saurkraut to learn about

Books are great, read everything you can. That said, my recommendations to a young person would be to make/build things. Make cheese or saurkraut to learn about fermentation. Weld something. Build a fence or a dog house or something to learn the process of taking a plan, measuring, cutting, fastening, etc. Plant a garden. Bake bread. Sew something. Distill something. Do something with electronics. All of these skills have practical applications plus many make scientific concepts more tangible.