In Keith Smith's' Quick Leather Bindings book, Keith has either eliminated a lot of the unnecessary steps and those that could not be eliminated were simplified.
Tools are limited to needle and thread, scissors, bone folder, cutting knife and metal straightedge. Leather on the spine is limited to quarter leather to eliminate the messy process of trying to fold leather around the corners of the boards at the foredge. In addition, all use of glue and paste can be eliminated by using a repositional mounting adhesive. The boards are finished before the book block is sewn to it. Some of the bindings described contain a book block of a single section or signature. A 2-section book block can have from 4 to 48 pages. All the sewings can be quarter cloth if you prefer not to use leathers.