That is the book I used to learn programming. The funny thing is that I got the book several years before I got a computer. I would in effect read through the game programmes and play them in my head - the simpler ones, that is.
Ah yes, I also learned to program by typing in these games, and reverse engineering to see how they worked. On a TRS-80. Which given RadioShack's recent bankruptcy makes this article a bit more nostalgic for me.
Btw, your comment about using the book before you had a computer reminds me of a music prof at my college. He would read musical scores for pleasure more often than listening to actual music. Or at least so we were told by the younger professors.