I think you're asking the wrong question, from an earlier era. Yes, "the power of compounding interest" is a great idea. With bonds and CDs, it still works that way. And it worked that way decades ago. But in more recent years, companies have realized they can make better use of money than by issuing dividends. Plus dividends require investors pay taxes, while simply growing the stock price can delay taxes. If you only bought dividend producing companies, you would miss out on some very significant growth in the market.
In general, it doesn't matter if a stock goes up 7% (no dividend) or 5% + 2% dividend. Most stocks are roughly growing at a similar rate, and you can capture that growth with an index fund. Instead of worrying about dividends, worry about stock growth and annual expense ratios.
"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" is probably too much to ask given the number of books and reading you've already been given. There's a very short book "The Investment Answer" that comes in under 100 pages and is probably more appropriate given the long list of reading suggestions in this thread. Just make sure you get advice from authors that use decades of stock market history, and who like to occasionally mention academic research.
I'd actually say awareness of expense ratios is more important than knowing about dividends. I'd suggest you learn more about annual expense ratios, and worry less about how the growth happens in a broad index of stocks.