I would be, even more so if there was an active forum/irc channel.

In fact I just finished a C Programming course at a state university. After talking with the professor I decided to continue on myself with a C++ book (to be determined), and a Linux Kernel book, [Understanding the Linux Kernel](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596000028.do).

Finding a group of people of a similar skill level willing to do this type of learning would be fantastic.

Good, but a little outdated. For general systems overview, as well as introduction to UNIX architecture, I'd actually recommend my textbook, which is the CMU intro systems book, Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective[1]. For OS theory, our OS/advanced OS textbooks are fine, but for actual implementation my coworkers recommended The Design of the UNIX Operating System[2], Linux System Programming[3], and Understanding the Linux Kernel[4].

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Systems-Programmers-Randal-Br...

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Design-Operating-System-Prentice-Softw...

[3] http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596009588/

[4] http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596005658/

Per the "read code" suggestion, I often come up with excuses to browse through the Linux kernel code: http://lxr.linux.no/linux

It's clean, discoverable and it does interesting things. Although it might help to first go through a book like Understanding the Linux Kernel: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596005658/