Haskell function composition (.) and function application ($) idioms: correct use

I guess I can answer this from authority.

Is there a reason for using the books way that is much better than using all ($) symbols?

There's no special reason. Bryan and I both prefer to reduce line noise. . is quieter than $. As a result, the book uses the f . g . h $ x syntax.

They are indeed equivalent: Keep in mind that the $ operator does, essentially, nothing. f $ x evaluates to f x. The purpose of $ is its fixity behavior: right-associative and minimal precedence. Removing $ and using parentheses for grouping instead of infix precedence, the code snippets look like this:

k = a (b (c (value)))

and

k = (a . b . c) value

The reason for preferring the . version over the $ version is the same reason for preferring both over the very parenthesized version above: aesthetic appeal.

Although, some might wonder if using infix operators instead of parentheses is based on some subconscious urge to avoid any possible resemblance to Lisp (just kidding... I think?).

I'd add that in f . g $ x, f . g is a meaningful syntactic unit.

Meanwhile, in f $ g $ x, f $ g is not a meaningful unit. A chain of $ is arguably more imperative -- first get the result of g of x, then do f to it, then do foo to it, then etc.

Meanwhile a chain of . is arguably more declarative, and in some sense closer to a dataflow centric view -- compose a series of functions, and ultimately apply them to something.