John Jardine wrote:
I can't suggest a decent book, as the general purpose books seem over
complicated and destined to be written by maths people for maths people.

I'd suggest Temes and LaPatra, "Circuit Synthesis and Design." Now out of
print, but occasionally you can find a cheap old copy used.

I'd also suggest the original poster does a couple of the exercises (he
might have already), doing what you describe with building a low frequency
prototype filter and then transforming it to a different type and frequency
range, but just for, e.g., a second order filter. There's not much to be
gained by doing the 'drudgery,' as you say, for a higher order filter other
than proficiency in aithrmetic.

---Joel Kolstad