Hi Iliah,
Thank you for taking time to share your research with me and all our Cafe friends here. I decided to purchase the download version of the Digital Outback book described above.
My conclusion is that it is a very well written compilation on raw image conversion in general and goes into great detail in using ACR 3.x in PSCS1 and 2 mostley in lay terms. It is written for people like me in pretty basic terms with illustrations that are clear and easy to understand. It is in my opinion an excellent source of information for someone such as myself who has been using PS intuitively. I just hate reading wordy tech manuals. I do read bits and pieces of different source materials, mostly monkey see, monkey do tutorials. I have the Deke Mclellan total training CD's and from time to time do watch them as a particular issue comes up. I am a paid member of NAPP and read the magazines. I have not taken full advantage of the website but intend to someday. I am just a guy with a camera, a computer and some software who wants to take (great) pictures that look as good on a piece of photo paper from my Epson printer at home as they do when I take the shot. I do not want to be a computer expert or a camera expert or a software expert. Unfortuantley, photography today requires at least a familiarization with all these things before you can push a shutter button.
Which kind of brings me back to my evaluation of the ebook.
I have only quickly purused the book to get a quick overview. I picked out several of the chapters and read some excerpts to get a sense of the total book. having said that, from what I have seen, I recommend it for getting a well rounded understanding of the raw conversion process, especially if you are using PSCS2/ACR3.x. While, as I said, I have not read it in it's entirety, it does not appear to mention the D2x specifically or any other brand in detail but does go into the use of all the sliders in ACR and several other converters, and has a section on NC and other converters with illustrations. It describes the results you can expect along with explanations of why and how.
Is it worth $40? I suppose if you start doing research on the web such as Iliah has done, you will be able to find a lot of information relevant to raw conversion and I expect more to become available as this controversial subject continues to be discussed. I think it is worth it for me and will read it. I feel that it will give me a greater understanding of arguably the most important step between shutter release and printing if raw is your choice for images. I have spent $5000 on a body, more than I care to think about on lenses and accessories, my G-5 mac and 23" Cinema screen are where I live and I now have 3 Epson printers, not to mention several thousand dollars in mat cutting and framing equipement. So if, for $40, I can gain a better understanding of the image that ties all these gadgets together, I'm thinking it is a pretty good value.
That's just one man's opinion. Hope it helps.
I guess I should mention that I have no connection with the authors or Digital Outback and in no way gain anything at all by my recommendation. I am just trying to be helpful to anyone who has an interest in this subject as a way of thanking those who have spent time helping me.
In case you will not be satisfied with the results you are getting, you can always use the links to see why, read some incites, and ask for answers from Andrew, Bruce, Ethan, and Tom (alphabetical sorting order here 
