I would buy just the original OBW book by Maxine Rosenthal. The additional books add more layouts, but everything you need to know about construction is in the first book.

I prefer to leave the dog ears on. They help me line up the pieces.

This is what I do. Whenever I'm going to have to deal with bias, starch is my best friend. I starch pieces until they are like paper. No problems with bias after that.

I also press seams open where there is going to be bulk. It's always worked better for me that way.