I have done a lot of genealogy research. I really went through a period of a couple of years that I did obsessive research on my family history. In fact, I still maintain several genealogical websites. Its very addictive and interesting. You find all sorts of information that you might never have known. Searching through old records (wills, deeds, birth records) not only teaches you about your own family history, but the customs of the times they lived in. I was often surprised to find historical information that I had previously had no idea about.
You can start work on your own family history. Its much easier than you might think, especially with the ease of accessing resources on the internet. You can create a family page on TribalPages.com. Its free and as you add names on your page, the program creates the family tree. If you have already started creating your family pages somewhere else you can import the GEDCOM file onto TribalPages and take it from there. Take a look at their program, view sample pages and look through their resources. This is a great resource for building your own family tree.
