Hi G-Rich...
I've been using EQ for a long time now...possibly back to "3"...it's been that long and I'm getting that old <grin>.
Two suggestions for learning..."do" as much or more than "read". The book can make perfect sense, but "doing it" along with the instructions as best as you can will help you learn faster.
The thing that took the longest for me was figuring out all the buttons and do-hickies on the toolbars, and "doing" makes that go faster.
Next, if and when, EQ offers additional books...there was one about drawing blocks with either EQ6 or EQ7 that was wonderful. If there's not one currently available, maybe you could pick up one of the older ones on Amazon, but get it used...way less $$$$. The book has several drawing projects that really took me through the EQ program...I recommend them highly.
Finally (oops!-guess there's three things), there's an EQ list, I think you get to it through the EQ website...Barb Vlack and people from EQ are on that list and help people with problems. It's nice back up support.
Hope this helps in some small way.
Julie