LeadSled,
What else I agree there are more simple definitions out here, let me reiterate that those are not my definitions but those direct from aircraft manufacturers.
Perhaps I should rephrase that the data is adjusted for "normal pilot reaction time" which is defined by these manufacturers/regulators to be "1 second." Other manufacturers may be different and these ones may even have changed their definition, both of which I alluded to at the beginning of my post.
Also, I fear that in reducing a definition to its lowest level for the sake of the lowest common denominator is assuming a reader doesn't want to know the intricacies and does them a disservice.
I am a firm believer that there are two types of aviation books - technical and stories, and never should the two mix or dilute one another.