That doesn't sound like a very good book if it said that! ;-)

Some broms will give a lot of pups, some hardly any, it just depends on the variety. You don't say what type it is or how big the mother plant is, but in general pups should be at least 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the mother before removing them.

It's not good to have a "see-through pipe", but it may not be completely hopeless. Obviously the growing point for that rosette is gone, but there still may be enough solid tissue around the edges to produce another pup from the side of it. I would expect the growth to be very very slow, though. It just doesn't have much reserve to draw on, but if you nurse it along it might make it. If you've got others, though, it may not be worth the effort. If it were me, I'd chuck it out.

You can either start them in small pots and move them up as they grow, or go directly into a full-size pot, it just depends on how much time and energy you want to put into it. I usually go right into a full-size pot because it gives a more even growth rate rather than a spurt of growth every time you repot it. This is more important for types where the form of the rosette is the main feature, like Neoregelias, and is more of an issue if your soil mix has fertilizer in it. If it doesn't, then it may not matter so much. On the other hand they look kind of lost in the big pots for a while, so if you only have a few plants, or limited space, you may want to go with making them more esthetically pleasing. You'll have to water more often with a smaller pot too.

I have no clue what kind the mother is -- it came tagged as "bromeliad". The 'flower' was yellow and smallish, and the top leaves are more bright pink/red than the Guzmania 'Orangeade' seen at: http://www.bromlink.org.au/brom_gal_1/brom1.html