One of the most moving and inspiring stories about Self-Directed Learning comes from Malawi, Africa.  William Kamkwamba was forced to quit school at age 14 because his family could no longer afford the school fees.  At that time, his country was experiencing a severe drought and his family was on the brink of starvation.  William transformed his village by building windmills out of junk in order to bring electricity and running water to his village.  He learned how to do this on his own, using books from his local library.  At that time he had no knowledge of the internet.

Please see below a link to the BBC article outlining his experience and a link to information on his book:

BBC News – Malawi windmill boy with big fans

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Stories like this may become more common with the improvement of access to the internet for people in areas that have been traditionally underserviced.