I have been using linux since 1992, Solaris and UNIX (dec, etc) before then... I run Gentoo now on my box, compile my own kernels, etc. I admin 100s of linux boxes at work.. but there is verbiage that different people see totally differently:

What does "Learn critical components such as the Linux kernel"

mean to the author? I have not read this book, but do they mean we are going kernel hacking or I will show you how to compile a kernel for cloud native applications (whatever that would mean, really)?