Well... "technically", you are correct. You can copy the Palm Reader to the SD card directly... BUT, you need to make sure you have:
1) The correct directory structure (for the apps and books) on the card
2) The correct exe / cab file to copy
3) Know about editing your Reg File (tread carefully!)
4) Know where to manually copy Palm ebooks on the SD card
If you know all those things, then give it a whirl.
But, then again, you might just plan on using ActiveSync, since it will take care of all those items above for you! :way to go:
Oh, and I almost forgot... you're going to need ActiveSync for just about EVERY other communication task between a PC and the PPC. Soooo, it's pretty tough to avoid ActiveSync
Good Luck!