Why books about WordPress? There is so much free stuff online about WordPress: the Codex, for example.
An advantage for online is that much of the material there is kept up to date. Books, in contrast, may suffer from bibliolescence: a term I coined to describe a book’s contents becoming obsolete. This risk is particularly acute for books about things that change rapidly or frequently, as WordPress does.
And yet, there’s something about a book: you can read it without having to boot anything up, you can flip through it, etc.
If you’re thinking about getting a book about WordPress, but are concerned about it becoming stale, now is as good a time as any to get one. WordPress 3.0 has just been released, so another major (i.e. deserving of a .0 version number) release is probably a while away.
So how many books are out now, or soon, covering WordPress 3.0? Searching Amazon shows that there are few.
One of them is the forthcoming edition of WordPress For Dummies. As author Lisa Sabin-Wilson posted recently, the 3rd edition, which includes WP 3.0, will soon be shipping. As I wrote in a previous post, the 2nd edition covers a fair amount of ground, despite its title and gentle pace. So I’m inclined to recommend the 3rd edition to those starting from scratch, or don’t mind a book that starts from scratch.
I’d be interested in news and previews and reviews of other WordPress books including the new features that came with 3.0…