Thanks, Kes.. I have, in fact, read and finished the book, mainly because I found that in the introduction, OSC himself says that you can safely read it without knowing anything about EG.
I just finished it about 2 days ago (in about 4 days. I know, that seems a long time, but reading time has been at a premium and if I didn't care about having to wake up and go to work the next day, I would've probably finished it in 1 night). And yes, it was completely safe to read on its own. At no point was I scratching my head in confusion. And it's a damn good read, too, gripping from the first page to last. Now I hope I can find EG somewhere.. even if it's only 1/80th as good, it'd still be worth getting..
- Dreir -