Although a majority of recipes in this book call for tallow, you can find a vegetable soap recipe on P.40. This recipe calls for olive oil, coconut oil, and Crisco, all of which can be purchased in supermarkets. I also enjoyed reading a chapter on soapmaking history with many nostalgic soap ads. This book is about vegetable-based soapmaking. Recipes in this book make about 8 lb of soap which I think is too much for beginners.
Many recipes call for some exotic oils.
However, the recipes on p.91, p.103, and p.114 call for a relatively simple list of ingredients. It includes a very good trouble-shooting chart. This is a sequal book of The Natural Soap Book. Recipes make about 3 lb soap and I think this is a reasobly sized batch. The trouble-shooting guide is excellent.