Can I remove "About the Author" from one book without deleting my bio?

Yes, from version 1.9.17. Open the book, scroll to the Export card, and under "Include in book" untick "About the Author". That book is then exported without it, in every format, and your author profile stays untouched for your other books. In earlier versions About the Author was added to every export whenever the author profile had a bio, and the only way to remove it was to empty the bio on the Authors page.