I think you'd really enjoy Practical Foundations for Programming Languages (it's one of the first books suggested in the original article). It approaches langua

I think you'd really enjoy Practical Foundations for Programming Languages (it's one of the first books suggested in the original article). It approaches language design like you say: start with the essence of the feature, don't worry about the syntax. It analyzes each feature thoroughly so you really understand exactly what the essence of that feature is.