I, too, like many in these forums, am trying to make sense of Chapter 3. I see the author has posted a codeplex solution for it. However, after the time I've spent trying to figure out the solution presented in the book, and to suss out what is missing, I don't really feel like reverse engineering the site to figure out how to accomplish this.
Will there be a republish of Chapter 3 that details the steps, in order, with the missing information?
I think this book needs to be recalled, fixed, and republished. It should be yanked from the shelves as it stands now.

>>>p 47 is missing steps on the "Perform Initializations" part.
Step 1 says to Define the variable.
Step 2 says Click the add button.
That part is OK.
Step 3 says to Look up the string value from the task descriptions list. From where?
It says:
Look up the string value from the task descriptions list. (where is this?) Then, it says: Use the Set Workflow Variable action. (Are these the same thing?)
Then, it says SPD allows you to specify the workflow variable and the value to which you want to assign it. The latter part is tricky. Start with the end result and work your way backward. (Backward from what? I'm still not sure what the steps are here.)

Unfortunately, the screenshot of the "Lookup for String" is covering the steps of the author's workflow. (Figure 3.9) I can see there are 6 lines of code behind it, but can't see what they are.

>>>Also, I downloaded and installed the HR ON Boarding app site, but I can't seem to find any workflows in it. It was helpful to see the lists. I notice that only the IT Task ID and not the Admin or AP is present in the lists. There are no workflows associated with any of the lists. Maybe I could figure out p47 if there were.

P46 is missing the steps for updating the instance run count, although it is shown in a screenshot.
On page 48, it says for content type ID:
"specify this for each of the three tasks: IT, AP, and security"
However, as soon as I go to add a second content type ID, I get this message:
"You have already set the Content Type ID." And, in the screenshot, there is only one content type ID specified, and that is IT.
Perhaps this has to be done three times, then? There are no instructions here on that.
It also says on p 48 to "create an entry in the New Hire On-Boarding Tasks list you previously created, and assign the values as previously shown." (Previously shown where?)