First of all, don't throw away Hazen's book. The method works just fine and the 17' and 18' Micmacs are the without a doubt, best paddling general recreational and tripping hulls I've ever used after being a canoe/kayak dealer for more than 20 years, carrying most of the top brands (Old Town, Mad River, Sawyer, We-No-Nah, Lincoln, Beaver, Grumman, Perception, Phoenix, Klepper, Hyperform, Blue Hole, Vega/Moore, and Wilderness Boats) and paddling a hell of a lot of canoes. That suggestion is just stupid and most likely coming from someone who has never paddled one, because when you find out how fast the big Micmacs are, how much maneuverability they maintain despite that speed, how dry they ride in big waves with a load and how secure they feel in bad conditions, they'll put a big smile on your face that very few other canoes can match.
There is certainly nothing wrong with Ted Moore's book, it's excellent and absolutely worth having and reading - but Hazen's book will do a perfectly fine job of showing you how to build the boats inside of it and come out with a great canoe - and isn't that the point of the whole thing? The various strip-building books on the market all have some variations in technique, but as far as I've been able to see, they'll all produce a pretty well-built canoe if the directions are followed and the workmanship is good. The book doesn't build the canoe - the builder does.
Design-wise, the 17'x34", 18'x36" and 18.5' Micmacs are the ones to build from Hazen's plan selection. I always found the 16' Micmac a bit short on glide by comparison - a decent canoe, but not as special as the longer ones. The Abenaki canoes and the two double kayaks are out of date designs that have been surpassed big-time by other designers and aren't really worth building these days.
As far as the construction, you can certainly plane the strips square on the ends and epoxy a hardwood cap over them if you want and then glass over it with bias strips. There is a spot on the lower stems where they meet the bottom where wear tends to concentrate from landing and launching. They should get a pretty hefty buildup of localized bias strips (as shown in the book on page 40) over the wood. Don't make the stems too fat as you want the leading edge about 3/8" thick. Do not monkey around with the hull shape, sheer-line shape, rocker amount or the glass layup, because you're not going to improve it - and do not add a keel!. The sling seats in the book are a real pain in the ass (literally). Replace them with normal caned seats. I usually raised my stern seat 1" above the plan height because I have big feet, but I wouldn't go much higher. The combination of the sheer's shape and depth in the paddler areas and the seat height generates a really nice, high-sided, nestled-in feeling that's quite different from a lot of canoes and done without excessive hull depth and the wind it catches. You feel more secure and the ride is substantially drier than most boats if you get caught out in big waves.
The double-thwart yoke is pretty strange looking, but works better than any other yoke you will find. You can pick the boat up from either direction and start walking (which can be quite handy at portages with poor or cramped landings). Also, while carrying the boat up or down a steep trail, you can easily slide the whole canoe slightly forward or aft on your shoulders, tilting it so that one end isn't bouncing on the hillside as you climb or decend. Again, it's different from most canoes, but once you try it, it delivers! We usually used the end handles, rather than end decks. The design doesn't take water over the ends, so decks look nice, but are mostly just a little bit of added weight - builder's choice.
If you simply follow the directions in the book and avoid getting creative or messing around with the design or layup, it will produce a very nice canoe. This is my 18x36" Micmac in Quetico in about 1975. It's my all-time favorite tripping boat and without a doubt the boat I'd own if I could only have one canoe. The 17' Micmac is very similar, a little better for solo work and has slightly less capacity. The other photo is the Nanaimo I built about 1973-ish. The first boat I ever built. OK at the time, but not up to the performance levels, stability and capacity of modern double kayaks.