Joanne Abramson's book is out of print and not really for a beginner, plus it's expensive.
Macaws are expensive, more than ever now. I don't know how people can afford them with price tags from 4-6k for most. You'll need as large a cage as you can fit in your home. Notice I said home: a macaw is NOT an apartment bird. You'll need to be able to afford lots of toys, an avian vet, human-grade nuts, pellets, fresh fruits and vegetables daily, etc.
If you have a macaw, you will be bitten at some point. Your bird will scream loudly at some point, whether it's noisy or not. Macaws make macaw-sized messes daily, if not more frequently. If you go the baby route, your sweet baby will mature and change. Some birds become hands-off, hormonal at times, etc. Adopting an older bird means that what you see is what you get.
You have a lot to learn, and depending on your job, you'll need to save up around 10k for bird, cage, toys, food, etc.
Would just like to build on these comments:
See if you can find Abramson's book at a library. Even if yours does not stock it (rather likely), they may be able to do an inter-library loan and get it for you. Plan on spending HOURS reading through it. I ended up buying a used copy, paid $300, and it was worth every penny, even though it was published in 1995.
Blue and Golds (the high-energy clowns of the family) are the most common, and the most common ones available at rescue centers. Green Wings (larger, but more-or-less calmer) are probably the 2nd most common from my research. Militaries and several other are CITES schedule 1 listed - meaning they can not be sold across US State boundaries. Adoption fees for Blue and Golds typically run about $500-$550, but acquisition price should be the least of your concerns - you will easily spend thousands, more likely tens of thousands, in cages, food, toys, and vet bills over its lifetime. Really nice Expanded Habitat stainless steel cages (kind of the ultimate cage) can easily set you back $5K or more depending on the size. Dropping another $500 on their toys, perches, swings, etc. for that cage is also really easy to do - and that is just to provide a place to call home.
All macaws are messy eaters. Give it a nice bowl of pellets and watch it throw away 95% because its looking for the special yellow one...
Highly recommend removing all jewelry, especially gold rings, because a macaw can crush those as easily as you and I can blink. With Seymour coming (a ruby), my wife and I are replacing our gold rings with titanium ones. Those SHOULD be macaw safe. At least the online jeweler is claiming if they ever bend one, they will replace it for free - and likely hang the damaged one up in their office! You can get really nice titanium rings online for a few hundred dollars - we are considering it a safety investment. Having had one crushed by my daughters Green Wing, I'd really prefer not to experience that a 2nd time.
Can't second the notion of adopting a 10+ year old bird more strongly. Please avoid the whole breeder pushed "if you raise it from a baby it will be yours forever!" bulldookey. If you do go the breeder route, only get the bird after it is fully weaned and ideally fledged. If they are willing to care for it until then, they may be OK. If they push you to take it before its weaned, run away.
Once you acquire a bird, realize it may take months before it settles in - and possibly 2-3 years before it really becomes comfortable. Never yell at the bird, NEVER EVER EVER hit the bird out of anger - like if it takes a piece of your ear off with that earring you thought was safe to wear because it has ignored it for years. If your the type that lashes out when you experience pain, figure out how to move past that, or don't get a macaw. Seriously. The good news is that they are physiologically incapable of biting off a finger... but they can bust one in an instant. You don't want to piss off a macaw. Most of the time their bites are simply their way to saying "NO" or at least "Not NOW". Bites will hurt. Hopefully they won't draw blood unless you really pissed it off. They will likely bruise.
Read up on harness training. It takes a long time to get a bird to allow you to put a harness on it (think months), but once you do, you should be safe to take it outside with you. You will both enjoy that. Don't even think about "free flight" training until you have a few years together (and I don't recommend it even then, especially if there are hawks or eagles in your area).
Just my 2 cents. Others may disagree.
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