Richard, your intentions are good, but I humbly suggest that it'll be better if you spend some time UNDERSTANDING the various manipulation TOOLS that PShop offers.
The comment that Brightness / contrast will definitely, positively, certainly, undoubtedly throw away valuable tonal information from your images is true for most adjustments. Eg. apply USM and you'll be throwing away tonal info too. Use Levels or Curves improperly and you'll end up with the same results.
If I were to author a PShop book, I'll say this...
B/C is a very 'blunt' and restrictive way of manipulating an image. Contrast is adjusted through EQUAL manipulation of black and white points. You can't control them independently, whereas Levels and Curves allow you to do so. Brightness is an overall adjustment.
The Levels function allows you to control the black and white points independently. Offering much more control. Brightness is not an overall adjustment, but an adjustment of the gamma (say, mid) level.
Curves, the most 'powerful' function allows you adjust every point independently.
In the end, it's how you understand and use these tools effectively.
Anyway, it's because of the flexibility and DEGREE of CONTROL offered by Levels and Curves that most users prefer them.
Hope this helps, mate