Not OP but if you're on the edge, try reading the first few chapters of the ZeroMQ guide. It does not make a lot of assumptions about the reader's background in computing.
I'd like to disagree. The first time I read the guide was after my first programming internship during college and didn't really have a background in distributed computing or message queues. I only knew how to read and write code good enough for a CRUD based web app. I understood sockets though.
I found this book a great introduction to MQ and distributed computing in general. I didn't read cover to cover but I remember reading around 2/3rds of the book and didn't find it super hard to follow even though I did have to reread some sections. Also I must mention I was implementing a toy ZeroMQ project while I was reading the book.
