Hi Joe,
I used this book and only this book to complete/pass the 70-640 exam back in 2008.
I would highly recommend that you work through this book completing all virtual labs.
The content covered in this is great and you should allow some time to build yourself a domain controller.
Before you begin though, there is free virtual training for the basics of active directory on the Microsoft training page.
You can find this information here,
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/default.aspx
Best of luck and you can be confident that this is a good training guide.
Jarad, Brisbane Australia