Marty, not to start something here, but when was that book written?
The thing with the auto darkening helmet (ADH) is you get what you pay for, a cheap unit is not as fast as a good unit, they also need to be charged up, so to speak, if you leave them down in a Dungeon for about 6 months, under a tarp, and go to use them, they don't work so well DAMHIKT
But an hour in direct sunlight cures this for sure.
When using an ADH you should also where a good pair of safety glasses that are a #2 or so for welding (sunglasses don't cut it). I understand the whole "Cumulative" effect thing, but if you have done any welding with a normal helmet, they you will have flashed yourself a few times, you do the weldor's nod, to drop the helmet, and for whatever reason the darn thing don't drop, "ZAP"
Just the one whoops is WAY more than you get with a day's work and an ADH, WAY WAY more! The other thing that most of us have done with the normal helmets is to flip up the dark lens, leaving on the the clear lens in place to say do some grinding, then pull the helmet up, get ready for some more welding and forget to close the dark lens......... then, the weldor's nod..........ZAP.........
With a good ADH these kinds of mistakes are just about completely gone.
If you get a ADH, get one with an adjustable darkness knob on it, some metals (like shinny stainless) are just brighter to weld, and sometimes when you are grinding, the sparks from the grinder set off the ADH, which is a pain, so the knob on the helmet helps with that.
You also need a good pair of gloves, they need to be thick , as welded metal is HOT, but they need to fit well, and be soft enough that you hands are not fighting them, or your hands WILL start to ache.
You need to wear good clothes for this, my favorite is COTTON coveralls, and a good respirator that fits under the helmet. Add to that, boots that are leather, and get the little strip of leather that goes over the laces of the boots, as a blob of glowing, molten steel dripping off your work, and falling on you boot is no big deal, but when that blob of molten steel stops and sits in the web of your laces, and you notice it when it burns through the tounge of your boot and your sock, then you will do a whole new dance, as you race across the workshop to the toilet to stuff you whole booted foot into the bowl of water........... again, DAMHIKT
Welding is a really really useful skill to have, with modern MIG welders it is not a hard thing to learn, but as with anything, the right tools and the right equipment etc make it much more fun and a heck of a lot safer.
The best thing a guy can do is try to take a course at a local community collage, the often have them in the evenings and you will get to do it all, gas, mig and sticks, well worth the time and small amount of money it takes.
If you can't do that, then buy locally from a good welding supply house, (btw, they often have refurbished units they take on trade in that are good deals), when you buy from them ask them to include a good hour of instruction with a weldor who knows what they are doing, that little bit of hands on, with an instructor can save you a lot of time and trouble.
More than maybe you wanted to know, but man I like welding, when I looks at stuff made from steel, I can confidently say "I could make that"
Cheers!