Is SQL Server 2012 predicate precedence overridden by all-at-once concept?
I believe I understand what the authors are trying to teach now (thanks to everyone's comments). I believe they are stating that if I am writing SQL that contains logic that depends on short-circuiting then the logic might be flawed due to the all-at-once concept which will evaluate predicates based on cost and not by order of precedence. So, the answer to this question is yes. The all-at-once concept does override predicate precedence.

I am reading the book right now in preparation for the 70-461 exam and I wanted to confirm with other writers of SQL if I truly did not have control over the order in which the predicates of my SQL statements are evaluated. It turns out that I do not. A CASE does not even guarantee the order according to this Connect item: Aggregates Don't Follow the Semantics Of CASE.

The Microsoft Technet article All-at-Once Operations in T-SQL by Saeid Hasani provides a more detailed explanation of the all-at-once operations concept. The Technet article does not state that the cost of a predicate is the reason why some predicates are evaluated before others which is the reason given in the book Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012.