I will put my two cents also, as a fairly new reloader myself. I have been reloading about a year now, and had to learn everything from the beginning. This forum, and others like it, are extremely helpful at learning how to reload, and I would go so far as to say they are indespensable if you don't know someone personally who can already reload. Dave in Flowery Branch has very good information, and knows what he is talking about. His comments have helped me sort out several problems.
I agree with you the books are kind of hard to read, but Dave is right... read them several times. The ABC's of Reloading is actually a good book, and is where I would start.
As far as the Auto Disk goes, it is a good device, but the charts are sometimes way off on how much of a particular powder it will dispense from a given hole. I have sometimes had to go up two full hole sizes to get the powder that I was supposed to have. In general, the Auto Disk underestimates powder more than it over estimates.
That said, there is absolutely no way I would work off the Auto Disk chart without being able to confirm with a scale. That goes double for a cartridge like 40 S&W, where a little bit of extra powder can greatly increase pressure. There is not a lot of room for error with that cartridge.