This book is a complete trip through all of the topics around kafka - I should have listened to the wording "definitive guide". My intention was to understand the idea of kafka, what risks might be and I think the book did a good job. For my opinion, there was way too much explanation of all the various config options, I think the manual contains this kind of explanation as well. Still, all the config options and the notes, that you have to figure out the best mix on your own isn't really assuring.