Yes, I'm a complete idiot. And when I started reading this book, I had just gotten a keyboard. After a year of having a keyboard and this book, I could not read music, could not play piano, and worse, was really kind of scared of even re-trying to learn. This book is full of dull music and music notation, which if you don't know anything about music, you won't know what they're talking about. It all makes for a rather lame book.What finally turned it around for me was a combination of more user-friendly books and watching tutorials on youtube. I still can't read music, but I can play some good stuff on the piano now. Maybe one day I'll find the magic bullet that helps me take care of that first part.