@mhoye @emacsomancer You might appreciate the Systems Crafters videos.
IMO the manuals are really good... if you can learn to read them in Info, and learn the style of how to read them. But it's counter-intuitive to how most manuals are read or learned. Occasionally opening and flipping through the manual to look at subjects is how I learned tons of emacs stuff... but also emacswiki, the #emacs irc channel, and a lot of patience.
These days I'd recommend watching the Systems Crafters videos as a way of getting started/immersed though.
But really unlocking Emacs is a matter of learning how Emacs wants you to learn. Emacs provides an *incredible* amount of self-documentation. But learning to access that is weird.
`C-h h` is your friend though.