the sculpting tool iamcresay refered to is in mesh > sculpt geometry tool > []

there are ways to use it in the maya tutorials
(i suggest you go take a look at those)

i just read the first page of that dudes tutorial and he's got the theory pretty much right. I'm not sure that you would call a vector a line though :p but thats not really important for artists i guess

your book must be really old if it doesnt have anything about normal maps. i dont remember who it was or when they developed normal maps ( I did know last year..) but i know it wasn't around when the playstation 2 came about