The real beauty of the EDMs is that, apart from making sure that fuel in the computer = fuel in tanks, they just sit there telling you stuff with little real effort and virtually no input on your part.
Honestly all I knew how to do was enter fuel when I got airborne first time with my new EDM 700..anyway other than that all you need to be able to do is flick the switch between fuel/all/temps and then press the STEP button to cycle through all the info...eventually you find what you're looking for.
I'd take a spare pair of eyes to look out while you experience the initial head down 'OH WOW' factor...mind you if the spare eyes are another pilot he'll be going 'OH WOW' too...but you'll probably find quite quickly that the EDM just becomes a part of your normal scan rather than the focus of your attention.
They are no different to every other new gadget...you learn lots more by pushing buttons than reading books...anyway its the manly way of doing things.
To this day I doubt I have read an FMC manual from beginning to end...pushed a lot of buttons...and after a little while I knew what would happen when button x, y or z was pushed...I think the first button I learned to love was labelled 'ERASE'..and the first I learned to fear was labelled 'DEL'