1) Sorry - it's not the luxury of the book that costs money - it's the size and mass of it. Which will never change, unfortunately. We give all the extra stuff, because we knew people would like it and it doesn't cost too much really to add some extra bits in and make it a better value.
Maybe read what everyone says on various forums around the web - it is commonly said that it is worth far more money than is charged. Hopefully, you will be able to save and afford your own copy soon!
2) Mark Lewisohn's book tells good detail about WHEN and WHO. This book is more about the studios (not just Abbey Road, but mainly), the equipment used (which seems to be THE big mystery before now) and HOW they did things - ideas and tricks they had, who played bongos on "Hard Day's Night", how some songs were built up - track by track. (BTW - Mark is a good friend, a great help and wrote the Foreword to our book! I think my copy of "Recording Sessions" is the MOST beaten-up one in the world!)
3) Hopefully, the book is inspiring people to be more like the Beatles - not in sound, but in approach. They would often change things, just to be "not like the old Beatles". They would even make a sound worse, rather than use the "good" sound they had last time. VERY creative people - and the book points out that they PUSHED everyone to be better and different - George Martin, Norman Smith, Emerick, Scott, McDonald, etc etc. They even pushed themselves to be different than before. Notice that there's only one song like "Tomorrow Never Knows", they never copied it for something else!