And there sure is a lot of crap and misinformation online as well as differences of opinions on the best method to use. Vacuum method of setting timing, seat of the pants method, ported or non-ported vacuum, performance tuning, MPG tuning, etc.
I, like the OP, would love to find a book that laid it all out in terms I can understand (took me several months before I figured out a dizzy was a distributor). Plus a book gives me a reference I can go to anytime without having to search for topics online. Old habits die hard I guess.