I found the second edition at a thrift shop, so while it's definitely outdated, I knew that going in and still managed to learn a lot.
There was quite a but of explanation about film cameras, but since I used them without knowing how they worked, I found it very educational. This book wouldn't be much help with picking a digital camera, although it does briefly mention them.
I learned quite a bit about how to make long-lasting, photo-safe scrapbooks, so it's a solid read for a beginner. My main complaint is that many pictures/templates are hard to see in black-&-white. There's a center section with a few color examples of completed scrapbook pages, but I really think all of the examples used in the book should be. Bad decision on idiot's guide's part, as I would have rated it much higher if it was better quality.
I used this book as the basis for my Scrapbooking Basics class at Barnes & Noble University. Very comprehensive and well-rounded overview of the scrapbooking hobby. Useful reference book full of resources!
Good detail, tips and tricks. Wish there was more samples and more colour but overall a great starter book to scrapbooking and I am sure many senior scrapbookers could find tricks as well :)