Incidentally, another book recommendation: MacOS X Unleashed contains a lot more of an introduction and orientation to the Unix side of MacOS X capabilities than The Missing Manual – actually the two of them together make a good comprehensive library and I wouldn’t want to be without either of them.
I don’t think Fontbook has the cojones for that many fonts. The stuff I’ve read suggests that once you pass several hundred, you’re drifting into “pro” territory and need a commercial app for the job.
IMO, Fontbook is just a freebie Apple gives away so Grandma can manage her fonts when she’s banging out next week’s newsletter for the church.