I'll also chime in and say the same. I've been meaning to go back and complete the exercises I couldn't at first.
I almost got stuck not reading on because I couldn't figure out how to do some exercises but I'm glad I didn't because hindsight shows me that would have been a mistake.
Based on your recommendations, just now, I went to go check out the book and found they're having a one-day half-price sale on it at Apress, the publishers:
