You might have seen a lot of basic examples of software delivery chains and branching models before reading this book. It is very likely that you have been trying to use different strategies and found that none of them completely support your scenario, which is perfectly fine as long as the tool can support your specific workflow.
Git supports almost any workflow. We have often encountered a situation that requires a merge commit while merging a feature, even though it can be done with a fast-forward merge. Those who requested it often use it to indicate that you have actually merged in a feature and want to store the information in the repository.
Git has fast and easy access to all the commit messages, so the repository should be used as a journal, and not just a backup of the source code.