The reviews for this book seem to be split between people who love it and people who hate it. Yes, this book is not perfect. It is confusing at times, and it is a little difficult to take their "requirements" and translate it to make a bag that's not EXACTLY like the one that's pictured, especially if you've never done anything particularly crafty before.
However, it has a lot of great pictures and great ideas, and just reading through the "how to" gave me some ideas on how to make my own bag that combined elements of many of the bags that were pictured. What's good about this book is it doesn't try to take too much on: It walks you through how to make bags in 4 specific categories, and then it shows you variations on those four.
At $14 (as of Nov 2003), you're not going to find a good book that's cheaper. It's not perfect, and it does have its limitations, but this is a good place to start for someone trying to figure out what they want to do and wanting to explore some ideas further.