I've been reading Command-Line Rust[1], and I think it's nice. Each chapter has a challenge where you build a common command-line tool, like echo, cat, head, wc, etc.

Just like you, I do prefer the "learn while you build" approach. My personal experience has been that the book is a nice addition to reference-style books, such as the one you mentioned.

1: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/command-line-rust/97810...