I’ve used the Vim text editor for over twenty years. When I was a system administrator managing Linux servers it was the tool available to me for editing files on them. For a long time I didn’t really understand how to use it properly, I was just able to make simple edits and had learned how to save and quit. Over the years I started picking up little tricks here and there, using the dot key, moving through paragraphs, changing the contents of parentheses. It wasn’t until I read the first edition of this book that it really clicked and I understood the mindset of using this editor.
This second edition was released around ten years ago, and it has been so long since I read the original that I have no idea what the differences are. It is a fantastic book though, and there are still countless things that I learned from reading it. I’ve built an Anki deck with a large number of flashcards of all the different features that I want to make sure I remember.