Joe Celko's SQL for Smarties (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/joe-celkos-sql/97801280...) and "Learn X the Hard Way" (Python, Java, C/C++, etc.) also play on the "for idiots/dummies" motif.

I didn't even make the "for dummies" connection! The name is a huge fail but it looks like the author meant it well, perhaps someone should tell him that it comes across as intellectual elitism and exclusionary to people who perhaps feel a little insecure reading material on the internet that is associated with fancy universities and graduate schools.

I had a similar feeling as OP at first, and then I realized the same as you.

I would personally suggest a title "for curious people".

I thought it was ironic, because it starts out almost like a children's story and is very approachable. I'd rather read this than a textbook, that's for sure.