Thanks all. Exactly the kind of discussion and points of view I was looking for. Following directions without understanding the reasons for them being as they are is something I'm not very fond of.
604guy, LOL on the POH writing! Good thing that the airlines have SOPs on top of that... written by a grumpy old chief pilot to ensure that he will not have to unlearn any of the bad habits he learned during flight training in 1934!
Cheers,
Fred