Two questions about the Tartine Basic Country Loaf recipe and sourdough history

(a) Why is the Tartine sourdough recipe considered to be difficult? It doesn't seem any more tricky than any other sourdough technique I've come across so far.

(b) What is the position of the Tartine Bread book in (recent) sourdough chronology/history? I've been watching a lot of youtube videos, reading a lot of blog and forum posts, etc., and the Tartine recipe seems to fall entirely within the normal range of what people are doing with sourdough. Yet it is often described in revolutionary terms, and indeed the process described by Chad Robertson in the book to perfect the recipe seems lovingly crafted and discovered over a long period of time. Is it that his book in fact shaped modern sourdough practice, and that is why it seems to occupy the center? Is it that the minute details and resulting shades of quality in his process matter more than I, a newbie sourdough baker, can properly discern? Is something else going on?

Thanks ahead of time.