What leads you to say this? The minimum investment is a spoke wrench.

I'm not sure I ever read Sloan. We might have sold it though, missed sales opportunity. I'm pretty sure I got my start building wheels by transferring new rims onto old wheels. I did that countless times. I'm not sure where the guys that taught me learned to build wheels, they were not bike mechanics before they started the shop, but they were pretty good. I don't remember the first wheel I built, I don't think it was for me.

I simply don't think a novice will build a good wheel with just a spoke wrench. I never could true a wheel on a bike, maybe that's just me. It's not likely to be dished and the tension will not be right. Otherwise, sure, you can build a bike wheel. I'm told you can check the tension with apps. I check relative tension by plucking spokes, but I always use a tension meter to check absolute tension.

I had not seen that catalog before. I do not recall the name of the catalog that our shop produced.

I could not remember the name of the catalog that my former employer Wheel Goods published, so did some googling, this link has a few photos of the catalog. I pasted one photo below.
1973 Wheel Goods Corporation "The Handbook of Cycl-ology"

It's been a while since I was a novice wheel builder, so maybe I don't know what they're capable of. But I don't think expensive tools gets you a better wheel. I just think it gets you a wheel faster. I have tutored people in truing and building wheels using a spoke wrench and a Park TS2. Some are total novices. The results are good.

The first wheels I built were trued on a suspended frame. I put a pencil on top of the brake pads as a guide to make the wheel round, then I took off one pad and used it as a guide to dish and make the wheel flat. Knowing how to true a wheel on a frame comes in handy if you are on a tour, and need to true or repair or respoke a wheel. A number of years ago I did help another tourist rebuild her wheel using just the frame to true it.