I've just read Drupal 6 Site Builder Solutions by Mark Noble and think it's got a lot of good things going on. This book, like a lot of Drupal books out there, presents some basic methods for installing and setting up a Drupal website but what it does differently is look at every tutorial and example through the lens of a small business.

In fact, the whole book is tutorial after tutorial of setting up Drupal with this same small business in mind. The example business is described as a restaurant with a well known chef, with specific clientele, particular menu, etc. The whole book is a great example in assessing the needs of this business and then working out Drupal solutions to get there. Granted, I don't know think there are many famous chefs are out there building their own websites, but this is besides the point.

I've got a background in technology training, including training for Drupal, and I am definitely sensitive to the prospective reader's learning needs. Technical books can sometimes advertise themselves to the wrong audience and leave some new learners in the dust. But, I'm happy to say that this one passes my learner sensors without any difficult issues.

Like a lot of the books coming from Packt Publishing, the preface lays down some assumptions on who the book is intended to help and what tools readers will need to follow along at home. The author's got a pretty good workflow for configuring a newly installed Drupal website, and moves from basic to advanced at a appropriate pace. The path through the Drupal principles is, for the most part, clear and well designed. The lessons were concise and easy to grasp.

There were only a few parts where I though some principles were presented out of order, like right in Chapter 2 there is a small segment on installing and enabling new modules smack in the middle of a bigger section on creating pages. But these diversions aren't terribly distracting and do manage to inform the task at hand for first time readers.

Some of the chapters and topics don't get the depth that they deserve and have the chance to leave a reader stranded. Chapter 9, for example, deals with the ecommerce package known as Ubercart, but is very seriously abbreviated. This topic, and ecommerce in general, is one that probably requires a whole additional book to fully teach and grasp and there is at least one Drupal ecommerce book on the market right now.

All told, the book reads just as advertised and makes good on its promise of "building powerful web site features for your business." If anyone is looking for a book with great practical examples and very accessible scenarios, then this would be my recommendation.

If you are looking to buy this book, I suggest you look for it first on the Drupal Books page. Buying books through the affiliate links on that page will give back some small amount of your purchase to the Drupal Association, a caretaker organization for the Drupal project and brand: http://drupal.org/books