<I'm getting the impression is that the book is not designed for learning the system but designed for making you want more and go pay for the home study or seminar.>
Not true.
Youngprer and/or Mastermind will soon set you straight. They are about your own age and have learnt from the book with great success.
Here's a list prepared by Youngprer if you want to search the archives for useful info:
http://www.learningstrategies.com/forum/ubb/Forum8/HTML/002072.html
Many others will help as well. 
