# How to read it · Introduction

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If you are new to the field, read [Foundations](https://learn-kernels.com/chapters/foundations) first and do not skip it. The rest of the book assumes you can say what a **warp** (Within a thread block, threads are organized into groups of 32 threads called warps, executing in a Single-Instruction Multiple-Threads paradigm.) is and why a kernel might be memory bound. After that the chapters are reasonably independent: read them in order for the argument, or jump to whichever layer you are currently stuck on.

If you already write kernels, the chapters will move faster than you need in places. The reading list is probably the more valuable artifact for you: it is a curated set of primary sources, and the chapters are best treated as a map of which of them to read and in what order.

Terms with a dotted underline are defined inline; hover or tap them. The same definitions, with their sources, are collected in the [glossary](https://learn-kernels.com/chapters/glossary). Figures in this book are there to show structure, not decoration, and the caption always says whether the numbers in one are from a specification or merely illustrative.