I have a much older edition, and I felt the non-code sections of the book were far more interesting and useful than the C++ sections.  Not sure if its still in the recent editions, but I did enjoy Mike's recollection of his time at Origin and work on the Ultima series.

Thing I got the most from the book was understanding the importance of learning 2D graphics before leaping into 3D.  That is a trap quite a few beginners fall into, and that definitely included me!  That said, I don't feel this book is aimed at beginners and is intended for those who are looking to make their leap into a games programming career.

It would depend on what you are expecting to gain from reading this book...

Just a thought, if one wants a book for starting out then Jazon Yamamoto's Black art of multiplatform game programming is a far better choice.

The forth edition of this book sits on my desk from time to time.  I like how they layout their visual studio projects but don't make new ones often enough to have all the variables used memorized.  I also have Real-Time Rendering and Game Engine Architecture in the same stack.  But as for a beginner book, I would not recommend it no.  I also own the 3rd edition on my kindle of Game Coding Complete, and I didn't notice a ton of differences between them myself.  But I've not read the 4th edition front to back like I did the 3rd.