I don't believe that it is true at all. Most of the methods in those books are much more natural where bacteria and nature take over and do not rely or use much media, chemicals, reactors or the like. Most of the modern techniques put the hobbyist in charge and are mostly to sell products and pseudoscience from a manufacturer or retailer and most do not work as well as the truly natural methods. There are so many ideas and thoughts now that take a small section of "natural" reef keeping for just one specific species and try to apply them to all for a profit.
In any case, most reefers do not understand anymore that sand has no chance of being a "nitrate factory," or that aragonite can bind phosphate and hide poor maintenance routine (for a while), or that having higher levels of N and P do not do anything helpful to the corals, or that using media or chemicals during the cycle can slow down the back end many time over. These twenty year old books could help a lot of people understand a lot of these things.
If you look at the vast majority of the exceptional tanks in the world that have been thriving for 5+ years where corals need pruned like rose bushes, they are mostly live rock, sand, skimmers, lots of high quality light and heavy feeding with low, but detectable N and P levels... basically what is in every one of these books. You can certainly do it other ways, but not all paths that get you to the finish line will work for everybody... most people can take the walking path, but only a few can swing from vines like Tarzan, but everybody wants to be like Tarzan when they have no ability. I think that more people would have an easier time if they read some of these books and took the walking path rather than trying to be the exception.
In any case, most reefers do not understand anymore that sand has no chance of being a "nitrate factory," or that aragonite can bind phosphate and hide poor maintenance routine (for a while), or that having higher levels of N and P do not do anything helpful to the corals, or that using media or chemicals during the cycle can slow down the back end many time over. These twenty year old books could help a lot of people understand a lot of these things.
If you look at the vast majority of the exceptional tanks in the world that have been thriving for 5+ years where corals need pruned like rose bushes, they are mostly live rock, sand, skimmers, lots of high quality light and heavy feeding with low, but detectable N and P levels... basically what is in every one of these books. You can certainly do it other ways, but not all paths that get you to the finish line will work for everybody... most people can take the walking path, but only a few can swing from vines like Tarzan, but everybody wants to be like Tarzan when they have no ability. I think that more people would have an easier time if they read some of these books and took the walking path rather than trying to be the exception.
The ones who do not laugh at me are the ones that I end up trading frags with and trade "babysitting" when we go out of town. 
