Mining can be really disheartening because of the expertise needed - not just for the technical setup, but for planning to beat the low (probably negative) returns (when electricity is taken into account).

You can buy a mining "bond" that pays you as if you had a certain hashrate. Check out Bitfunder and the ASIC.MINER assets there. Probably  a much higher payoff and easier to learn the ins-and-outs than mining, IMO.