Drupal 6 Book Review: Building Powerful And Robust Websites With Drupal 6

Perhaps I am too critical or my expectations are too high. In any case I was disappointed with Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6. It may be somewhat useful for Drupal beginners seeking an introduction, general guidance or even basic help, but it lacks the detail and usefulness beginners are likely to need to get tasks done early on. I would expect most Drupal beginners to require more complete and comprehensive resources than what this book provides.
The book appears to have been written under the assumption that it will be read from front to back. But the reality is, at least from my experience, that most technical books are used in a fairly random order for reference when help on a specific problem or topic is sought. The sentences are often long, winding and more detailed or complex than necessary. This makes it difficult to scan for keywords, search for context or comprehend in a hurry. Many details encourage bad practices or are misleading. Most of these issues are minor, however the frequency of them is concerning. Shorthand PHP tags and bad code style occur in a number of places <? print $something; ?>.
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