They are not difficult for Zed Shaw. You might not like his writing style, but disregarding context and interpreting statements literally that are quite obviously there for dramatic effect is in fact a strawman.
While I do find his writing entertaining, I wouldn't recommend it for beginners either. But not because he doesn't know how Python 3 strings work.
Python 3 was a disaster, and while his diatribe against it was questionable, the emotion behind it was not particularly misplaced.
