I feel like beginners should not read things like this. Just use the tool as little customised as possible, and be comfortable with it. Then look at making it

I feel like beginners should not read things like this. Just use the tool as little customised as possible, and be comfortable with it. Then look at making it more comfortable or more capable. If an enthusiast starts you down the customisation path up front, it's surely overwhelming. When I learned emacs I just learned the tiny handful of motion commands: fwd, back, up down, by character, line, paragraph, code unit; plus opening and saving files -- basically the same power of Atom or Sublime or such. Then because of how emacs works I'd learn a new command from time to time and wonder how I lived without it. Even now 45 years later, I learn a new capability every few weeks, though of course Emacs is a lot more capable than it used to be! A book like this is great, of course, once you're already comfortable with it.