I bought my first copy from the fusty-dusty music shop (Bell Music, Hounslow...) at the same time as my first guitar, a Russian-built classical guitar, strung with cheese wire steel strings. A wide, flat neck, a bolt through the neck heel to hold it in place; in fairness I knew no better back then (mid '60s...). I spent a year or so on the first chord chart page, changing from G to GMaj7, to GMaj6, then GMin7, GMin6, chromatically up and down the telegraph pole neck, then the chord substitution examples, and built-in melodies. It stood me in good stead for the decades since; I've added much theory from other sources, and have a pile of jazz methods and chord dictionaries of all sorts. I might not recommend Mickey Baker as one's sole source of knowledge, but what's in there is quite definitely valuable stuff, and well worth the effort, even as a complete novice. It inspired me, for instance, to acquire my first Hofner arch-top (President Thin Florentine cut, tobacco burst E2, that I was a fool to not keep; I've been looking for another ever since...). After the Russian guitar, all talk of 'playability' and 'neck width', on guitar or bass, bring out a wry smile from me. It's like the bloke who always bought size 8 shoes, when his feet were size 9. When asked why, he would reply 'It's such a great feeling when I take them off'.